01
Classification
Classification of goods under the Customs Tariff and the Harmonised System, advance rulings on classification and the defence of a classification when the department disputes it.
We advise importers, exporters and manufacturers across the customs and trade cycle, the classification of the goods, the valuation that fixes the duty, the trade remedy that protects or burdens a sector, the foreign trade policy benefit that is claimed, and the litigation that follows when the department disagrees.
A customs mandate turns on a small number of decisions that recur on every consignment, the classification, the value, the benefit claimed and the documentation kept. Each is examined at clearance and can be reopened long after.
Classification of goods under the Customs Tariff and the Harmonised System, advance rulings on classification and the defence of a classification when the department disputes it.
Customs valuation under the valuation rules, related party pricing and special valuation branch proceedings, and the treatment of royalties and additions to the transaction value.
Anti-dumping, countervailing and safeguard investigations and duties, acting for domestic industry seeking protection or for importers and exporters responding to it.
Advice on the Foreign Trade Policy and the export promotion and duty exemption schemes administered by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade.
Eligibility for preferential duty under free trade agreements, the rules of origin that govern it and the documentation that supports an origin claim.
Replies to show cause notices, representation before the adjudicating and appellate authorities and appeals to the CESTAT and the courts.
Each stage fixes a position the next stage relies on. The classification and value taken at clearance are the positions the department tests on audit, and the documentation kept at import is the case that defends them later.
Fix the tariff classification and the customs value before clearance, and record the basis for each.
Confirm eligibility for any duty exemption, export scheme or preferential origin benefit and assemble the supporting documents.
Manage the assessment and clearance, and build the documentary record that will answer a later audit or investigation.
Respond to post-clearance audit, special valuation branch proceedings and show cause notices with a complete and consistent submission.
Carry the matter to the Commissioner (Appeals), the CESTAT and the courts where the position is worth pursuing.
Every customs position is read through three lenses at once. The classification and value have to be technically correct, the position has to make commercial sense for the trade, and the whole of it has to be legally defensible when the assessment is reopened on audit.
We fix the classification, the valuation and the benefit claimed with precision under the Customs Act, 1962 and the Customs Tariff Act, 1975, because at the border the technical position fixes the duty and every dispute that follows.
We weigh the duty, the scheme and the trade remedy against the commercial cost of the supply chain, so the structure of the import or export serves the business and not just the assessment of a single consignment.
We build the documentary record at import for the audit and the show cause notice that may follow, and carry the matter through the adjudicating authority, the CESTAT and the courts where the position is worth defending.
A customs position is taken on every consignment and tested on a different timeline. A classification or a value that was convenient at clearance becomes the dispute on audit, often across years of imports at once. We fix the position and the documentation at the point of import so the exposure is contained before it accumulates.
The vocabulary that decides outcomes, set out precisely, not loosely.
The principal legislation governing the levy of customs duty, import and export procedure, valuation, classification and confiscation.
The customs cell that examines the influence of relationship on the price in imports between related parties to determine the assessable value.
The demand notice for short-levied, non-levied or erroneously refunded customs duty, with extended limitation where suppression is alleged.
The Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal that hears appeals against orders of customs and indirect-tax authorities.
The Foreign Trade Policy scheme permitting duty-free import of inputs physically incorporated in export products, subject to export obligation.
Short, direct, on the record.
Classification determines the rate of duty, the eligibility for exemptions and the application of trade remedies, so a difference in the chosen heading can change the duty significantly and recur on every consignment. Classification follows the Customs Tariff, which is aligned to the Harmonised System, together with the section and chapter notes and the rules of interpretation. Because the department can dispute a classification on audit across years of imports, fixing the correct heading at the outset, and obtaining an advance ruling where the position is uncertain, contains the exposure before it builds.
Where an importer buys from a related party, customs examines whether the relationship has influenced the price, because the duty is levied on the transaction value. The special valuation branch conducts this examination, and may load the declared value with royalties, licence fees or other additions where the rules require. The proceeding turns on the agreements between the parties and the basis of the pricing, so the documentation of the relationship and the price is central. We advise on the structure and the documentation before the proceeding, and represent importers through it.
These are trade remedies. An anti-dumping duty may be imposed where goods are exported to India at less than their normal value and cause injury to the domestic industry, while a safeguard duty addresses a surge in imports. The duties follow an investigation in which domestic industry, importers and exporters all participate by filing data and submissions. We act on both sides, for domestic industry seeking protection and for importers and exporters responding to an investigation, because the outcome turns on the evidence and the legal arguments put on the record during the investigation.
A free trade agreement can allow goods to be imported at a preferential or nil rate of duty, but only if they satisfy the rules of origin in that agreement, which test where the goods were genuinely made. The claim must be supported by a certificate of origin and the documentation that proves the origin criteria are met. Customs can question an origin claim, so the eligibility under the specific rules of origin, and the strength of the supporting documentation, have to be assessed before the preferential rate is claimed rather than after it is challenged.
A customs dispute usually begins with a show cause notice and an order of the adjudicating authority, followed by an appeal to the Commissioner (Appeals) and then to the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal. From the Tribunal, a question of law can be carried to the High Court, and in matters concerning the rate of duty or valuation, to the Supreme Court. As the Tribunal is the final fact finding forum, the documentary record and the technical submission built at the adjudication stage usually shape the result of the entire dispute.
Income tax, transfer pricing, withholding and treaty interpretation
Merger filings, dominance, cartels and CCI proceedings
Economic offences, PMLA, SEBI enforcement and internal investigations
The strongest outcomes are built into the strategy at the start, not recovered from disputes later.