2003 (9) TMI 604

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..... er : C.N.B Nair, Member (T)]. The appellant imported a consignment of betel-nuts splits valued around Rs.15 and sought its clearance in terms of ITC P.N. 25/RE-98/9702, dated 1-8-98. This Public Notice permitted licence free import of goods in question from SAARC countries. 2. The purchase of the goods was from a Sharjah trader. The invoice of the goods and certificate of origin were fro .....

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..... hed and accepted as Sri Lanka, a country to which the benefit was available. It was pointed out that the Bill of Lading showed that goods were shipped directly from Sri Lanka to Cochin. The Phytosanitary Certificate dated 15-6-99 issued by the Sri Lankan Authority also showed the place of origin as Sri Lanka . It is the appellant s explanation that the country of origin certificate came to be i .....

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..... ds was in a non-SAARC Country is not material for deciding the issue of country of origin. The Country of origin of goods is not to be determined by the location of the trader. Adopting that criterion would yield entirely incorrect results and distort the arrangement among SAARC countries. This is particularly so inasmuch as, often, commodity markets are located at trading centres rather that at p .....

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