CESTAT says EPCG Force Majeure Does Not Automatically Waive Duty Liability

The appellants imported embroidery machines under EPCG concessions but could not fulfil the prescribed export obligation after the machines were submerged and rendered irreparable in the 2006 Surat floods. CESTAT held that the notification expressly linked the duty concession to fulfilment of export obligation and no competent authority had granted waiver; however, the same circumstances did not justify confiscation or penalty under Section 112(a), particularly in the absence of deliberate non-compliance.