3. (1) There shall be levied and collected in such manner as may be prescribed duties of excise on all excisable goods, produced or manufactured, and on all excisable services provided or rendered, in Bangladesh, as, and at the rates, set forth in the First Schedule. ¹[Explanation.- For the purpose of levy and collection of duties under this section, classification and description of excisable goods shall be as per First Schedule of the Customs Act, 1969 (IV of 1969).] (2) The ²[Board] may, by notification in the official Gazette fix, for the purpose of levying the said duties, tariff values of any articles enumerated, either specifically or under general headings, in the First Schedule as chargeable with duty ad valorem and may alter any tariff values for the time being in force. (3) Different tariff values may be fixed for different classes or descriptions of the same article. ³[ ⁴[(4) With the prior approval of the Government, the ⁵[Board] may, in lieu of levying and collecting under subsection (1) duties of excise on excisable goods and services, by notification in the official Gazette, levy and collect duties on the capacity of plants, machinery, undertakings, establishments, installations or premises producing or manufacturing such goods, or providing or rendering such services; and such notifications shall specify-(a) the guiding principles for the determination of capacity, (b) the capacity, as determined in accordance with such guiding principles of the plants, machinery, undertakings, establishments, installations or premises affected by it, (c) the duty or the rate of duty on such capacity as determined, and (d) the manner of collection of such duty.] ⁶[(5) The capacity of any plant or machinery or part thereof or establishments or premises producing or manufacturing excisable goods, or providing or rendering excisable services, specified in a notification under sub-section (4) shall, upon an application made to the Government within thirty days of the notification by any aggrieved person, be reviewed by a Standing Tribunal constituted under sub-section (6) to which the application shall be referred; and the decision of the Standing Tribunal confirming, reducing or increasing the capacity shall be final.] ⁷[(6) The Government shall, for the purpose of sub-section (5), constitute a Standing Tribunal consisting of not less than two persons each of whom may be either an officer not below the rank of a Joint Secretary to the said Government or a person who held such rank at the time of his retirement from service.] (7) The ⁸[Board] may, by notification in the official Gazette, at any time, cancel a notification under sub-section (4); and where a notification is so cancelled or, for any reason whatsoever, cannot be given effect to, the duty under sub-section (1), in lieu whereof the duty under sub-section (4) was levied by such notification, shall be levied and, with necessary adjustment, collected for the financial year during which such notification is cancelled or for the period for which it cannot be given effect to.] Explanation.- For the purposes of this sub-section, an order of a Court suspending or staying the collection of the whole or any part of the duty under sub-section (4) shall be deemed to be a reason for which a notification under sub-section (4) cannot be given effect to.

⁹[3B. Goods whereof any article liable to duty under this Act forms a part or ingredient shall be chargeable with the full duty which would be payable on such goods if they were entirely composed of such article, or, if composed of more than one article liable to duty, then with the full duty which would be payable on such goods if they were entirely composed of the article on which the highest amount of duty would be payable.]

¹⁰[3C. When for any reason, goods are, prima facie, classifiable under two or more headings of the First Schedule, the heading which provides the most specific description shall be preferred to headings providing a more general description.]

¹¹[3A. (1) The Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, levy, subject to such conditions, limitations and restrictions as it may deem fit to impose, a regulatory duty-(a) on any excisable goods or excisable services, in addition to the duty leviable under section 3, at a rate not exceeding ¹²[100] per cent of the rate of duty leviable thereon under the said section, or, in the case of excisable goods, at a rate not exceeding ¹³[30] per cent ad valorem or ¹⁴[25] per cent of the retail price and, in the case of excisable services, ¹⁵[25] per cent of the charges for such services; and (b) on any other goods or services, at a rate, in the case of goods, not exceeding ¹⁶[50] per cent ad valorem or ¹⁷[35] per cent. of the retail price and, in the case of services, not exceeding ¹⁸[35] per cent of the charges for the services] ¹⁹[:Provided that, if the assessed amount has a fraction of less than five poisha, the assessment shall be rounded off to the next higher five poisha.] (2) Any notification issued under sub section (1) shall, if not earlier rescinded, stand rescinded on the expiry of the financial year during which it was issued.]

²⁰[3AA. (1) The Commissioner of Excise may, after giving a person an opportunity of being heard, determine the amount of duty of excise payable by such person, if the Commissioner reasonably believes that the person has made false or untrue statement in respect of payable duty of excises or if such person fails to pay the payable duty within the prescribed time.

 

 (2) In the cases specified in sub-section (1), the Commissioner of Excise shall, within 45 (forty five) working days from the date of hearing, serve a notice of the determination of duty upon such person, which shall, along with other necessary particulars, contain the following matters, namely—

 

(a) the reason for such determination, the amount of duty payable as a result of such determination and a description of the basis on or before such amount of duty is determined;

 

(b) the date by which such duty shall be payable, but such date shall be at least 15 (fifteen) working days after the date on which the notice is served; and

 

(c) the time and place of filing appeal against such determination of duty.

 

 (3) The Commissioner of Excise shall not make a determination of duty for a duty period at the expiry of 5 (five) years after such tax period, unless a person wil fully neglects or commits a fraud in order to evade payment of duty, conceals or distorts any information, and any other offences under Value Added Tax and Supplementary Duty Act, 2012 (Act No. 47 of 2012).

 

 (4) If a person fails to pay a payable duty on or before the due date of payment, he shall be liable to pay an interest at a simple rate of 2% (two percent) per month on the amount of payable duty, from the next day, after the date such payment becomes due until the date the payment is made.

 

(5) Nothing in this section shall prevent a Commissioner of Excise from imposing a fine mentioned in section 9.]

4. (1) Where under this Act any article is chargeable with duty at a rate dependent on the value of the article, such value shall be deemed to be the wholesale cash price for which an article of the like kind and quality is sold or is capable of being sold to the general body of retail traders or, if there is no general boy of retail traders, the general body of consumers on the day on which the article which is being assessed to duty is removed from the factory or warehouse, as the case may be, without any abatement or deduction whatever except the amounts of duty and sales tax then payable.

(2) Where under this Act any article is chargeable with duty at a rate dependent on the retail price of the article, the retail price shall be the price fixed by the manufacturer, inclusive of all charges and taxes, at which any particular brand or variety of such article should be sold to the general body of consumers or, if more than one such price is so fixed for the same brand or variety, the highest such price.

(3) Where under this Act any services, facilities and utilities are subject to duty at a rate dependent on the charges therefore and-

(a) any such services, facilities or utilities are, in any case, rendered or provided free of charge or at a concessional rate, the duty shall be levied and collected on the amount which would have been charged for such services, facilities and utilities had they not been rendered or provided free of charge or at a concessional rate; and

²¹[(b) the amount with reference to which the duty shall be levied shall be the total amount charged for all services, facilities, utilities, catering, supplies and merchandise provided or rendered, ²²[* * *] which the recipient pays or would have to pay but for any special relationship between the parties in question.]

²³[(4) Where under this Act any entertainment is subject to a duty dependent on the charge for admission to such entertainment and-

(a) the proprietor or enterprise of an entertainment admits any person to any place of entertainment as a spectator or as an audience for the purpose of amusement by taking part in it without any payment or on payment of an amount less than the amount normally charged for admission thereto, the duty shall nevertheless be levied and collected on the amount which would have been charged for such entertainment had it not been provided free of charge or at a concessional rate; and

(b) the amount with reference to which the duty shall be payable shall be the amount charged for admission to an entertainment, exclusive of the duty and any other tax, which a spectator or an audience pays or would have to pay but for any special relationship between the parties in question.

Explanation.- For the purpose of clause (a),-

(i) “proprietor”, in relation to any entertainment, includes any person responsible for the management thereof; and

(ii) in case there are different classes of seats in the entertainment, ÔÇÿplace of entertainment' means the class to which such person is admitted.]

5. [Power of Government to impose Customs duty on goods mentioned in the First Schedule.- Omitted by section 3 and the Second Schedule of the Bangladesh Laws (Revision And Declaration) Act, 1973 (Act No. VIII of 1973).]

6. The ²⁴[Board] may, by notification in the official Gazette, provide that, from such date as may be specified in the notification, no person shall, except under the authority and in accordance with the terms and conditions of a licence granted under this Act, engage in-(a) the production or manufacture or any process of the production or manufacture of any specified excisable goods or of saltpetre or of any specified component parts or ingredients of such goods or of specified containers of such goods, (b) the wholesale purchase or sale (whether on his own account or as a broker or commission agent) or the storage of any excisable goods specified in this behalf in Part A of the Second Schedule, or(c) providing or rendering any excisable services.

7. Every licence under section 6 shall be granted for such area, if any, for such period, subject to such restrictions and conditions, and in such form and containing such particulars, as may be prescribed.

8. From such date as may be specified in this behalf by the ²⁵[Board] by notification in the official Gazette, no person shall, except as provided by rules made under this Act, have in his possession any excisable goods specified in this behalf in Part B of the Second Schedule in excess of such quantity as may be prescribed for the purposes of this section as the maximum amount of such goods or of any variety of such goods which may be possessed at any one time by such a person.

9A. Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (Act V of 1898) offences under section 9 shall be deemed to be non-cognizable within the meaning of that Code.

²⁶[9. Whoever commits any of the following offences, namely:-

(a) contravenes any of the provisions of a notification issued under section 6 or section 8;

(b) evades in any manner the payment of any duty payable under this Act;

(c) removes any excisable goods in contravention of any provision of this Act or any rule made thereunder or in any way concerns himself with such removal;

(d) acquires possession of, or in any way concerns himself in transporting, depositing, keeping, concealing, selling or purchasing or in any other manner deals with, any excisable goods which he knows or has reason to believe are liable to confiscation under this Act or any rule made thereunder;

(e) fails to supply information which is required by rules made under this Act to supply, or unless with a reasonable belief, the burden of proving which shall be upon him, that the information supplied by him is true, supplies false information;

(f) attempts to commit, or abets the commission of, any of the offences mentioned in clauses (a) and (b) of this section;

(g) makes or attempts to make a deduction in the duty payable under sub-section (4) of section 3 on account of removal of goods for export, or to a licensed warehouse or a licensed factory, otherwise than in accordance with the provisions of the appropriate notification under the said sub-section (4), shall, for every such offence, be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years or with fine which may extend to Taka ²⁷[five lac or two times] the amount of duty involved, if any, whichever is greater, or with both.

9B. (1) In any prosecution for an offence under this Act or the rules presumption made thereunder which requires a culpable mental state on the part of accused, the Court shall presume the existence of such mental state but it shall be a defence for the accused to prove the fact that he had no such mental state with respect to the act charged as an offence in that prosecution. Explanation.- In this sub-section, “culpable mental state” includes intention, motive, knowledge of a fact, and belief in, or reason to believe, a fact. (2) For the purposes of this section, a fact is said to be proved only when the Court believes it to exist beyond reasonable doubt and not merely when its existence is established by a preponderance of probability.

9C. (1) A statement made and signed by a person before any Excise Officer not below the rank of Superintendent during the course of any inquiry or proceeding under this Act shall be relevant, for the purpose of proving, in any prosecution for an offence under this Act, the truth of the facts which it contains-(a) when the person who made the statement is dead or cannot be found or is incapable of giving evidence, or is kept out of the way by the adverse party, or whose presence cannot be obtained without an amount of delay or expenses which, under the circumstances of the case, the Court considers unreasonable; or(b) when the person who made the statement is examined as a witness in the case before the Court and the Court is of opinion that, having regard to the circumstances of the case, the statement should be admitted in evidence in the interests of justice. (2) The provisions of sub-section (1) shall, so far as may be, apply in relation to any proceedings under this Act, other than a proceeding before a Court, as they apply in relation to a proceeding before a Court.

9D. (1) Where any person is convicted under this Act for contravention of any of the provisions thereof, the Court convicting the person shall be competent to cause the name and place of business or residence of such person, nature of the contravention, the fact that the person has been so convicted and such other particulars the Court may consider to be appropriate in the circumstances of the case, to be published at the expense of such person, in such newspapers or in such other manner as the Court may direct. (2) No publication under sub-section (1) shall be made until the period for preferring an appeal against the orders of the Court has expired without any appeal having been preferred, or such an appeal, having been preferred, has been disposed of. (3) The expenses of any publication under sub-section (1) shall be recoverable from the convicted person as if it were a fine imposed by the Court.]

10. Any Court trying an offence under this Chapter may order the forfeiture to Government of any goods in respect of which the Court is satisfied that an offence under this Chapter has been committed, and may also order the forfeiture of any receptacles, packages or coverings in which such goods are contained and the animals, vehicles, vessels or other conveyances used in carrying the goods, and any implements or machinery used in the manufacture of the goods.

²⁸[11.  (1) When under this Act or any rules made there under, a duty is payable to the Government by any person or a penalty is adjudicated against any person or a notice or demand is served upon any person calling for the payment of any amount unpaid which may be payable by way of duty, penalty or under any bond or other instrument executed under the rules and such duty, penalty or other sum is not paid within the time it was required to be paid, an Excise Officer, not below the rank of Assistant Commissioner, may at any time—

 

(a) deduct or require any other Excise, Customs or Value Added Tax (VAT) Officer to deduct the amount so payable from any money owing to such person or due which may be in the hands or at the disposal or under the control of such Officer or of the Government;

 

(b) require, by a notice in writing, any person owing any money to the person from whom such duty or penalty or any other sum is recoverable or due, to pay to such officer the amount specified in the notice, or the whole of such money if it is less than the amount so recoverable or due, within 7 (seven) days of the receipt of the notice or within such longer time as may be allowed by such officer;

 

(c) recover such amount by attachment and sale of excisable goods or any plant, machinery and equipment used for the manufacture of such goods or any other goods in the factory or bonded warehouse or in any premises where any excisable services are provided or rendered;

 

(d) stop removal of any goods belonging to such person or his associates from Customs control in the sea port, airport, land port, any other Customs-station or from such factory, bonded warehouse or premises till such amount is paid or recovered in full;

 

(e) require any officer of Customs to recover such amount by detaining and selling any goods belonging to such person which are under the control of the Customs authorities;

 

(f) require, by a notice in writing, any Government Entity to stop any excisable services till such amount is paid or recovered in full;

 

(g) require, by a notice in writing, any Scheduled Bank having deposit of money of the person from whom such duty or regulatory duty or penalty or any other sum is recoverable to pay to such officer the amount specified in the notice or to freeze the account or make the account inoperative on respect of the notice.

 

(2) If the amount is not recovered from such person in the manner provided in sub-section (1), the Excise Officer may prepare a certificate signed by him specifying the amount due from the person liable to pay the same and send it to the Deputy Collector (DC) in which such person resides or owns any property or conducts his business and the said Collector shall, on receiving such certificate, proceed to recover the amount specified in the certificate as a public demand or as if it were an arrear of land revenue.

 

(3) The Government may appoint one or more officers to exercise the powers of a Certificate-officer under the Public Demands Recovery Act, 1913 (Bengal Act III of 1913) for the purpose of recovering the amount specified in a certificate prepared under sub-section (2), and when more than one Certificate-officers are so appointed the Government may also specify their territorial or other jurisdiction.]

12. The Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, declare that any of the provisions of the ³⁰[Customs Act, 1969 (IV of 1969), hereinafter referred to as the Customs Act], relating to the levy of and exemption from customs duties, draw back of duty, warehousing, offences and penalties, confiscation, and procedure relating to offences and appeals shall, with such modifications and alterations as it may consider necessary or desirable to adapt them to the circumstances, be applicable in regard to like matters in respect of the duties imposed by section 3 ³¹[or section 3A].

³²[12A. (1) The Government may from time to time, by notification in the official Gazette, exempt, subject to such conditions, if any, as may be specified therein, any goods or class of goods or any services or class of services from the whole or any part of the duty leviable under this Act. (2) The ³³[Board] may, by special order in each case, exempt from the payment of the whole or any part of the duty leviable under this Act, under circumstances of an exceptional nature to be stated, in such order, any goods ³⁴[or services] on which such duty is leviable.]