Cap. 337 Art. 14Power of Commissioner to take goods on payment of declared or to take duty in kind.

(1) In the case of goods the duties on which are charged at an ad valorem rate, the Commissioner may, if he has reason to believe that the value declared by the importer or his agent is insufficient, either take the goods on paying the importer or his agent the amount of the value declared by him with an addition of five such payment together with the restitution of any per centum, duty which may have been paid on the goods to be made within fifteen days following the declaration, or take the duties in kind.

(2) The importer against whom the Commissioner proposes to exercise the right of pre-emption shall be entitled to have the goods appraised by experts, one to be appointed by the declarant and the other by the Commissioner. In the event of disagreement between them, the experts shall appoint an umpire whose decision shall be final.

(3) If the experts decide that the value of the goods does not exceed by more than five the value declared by the per centum importer, duty shall be levied on the amount declared by the latter.

(4) When the appraised value exceeds by more than five per the value declared by the importer, the Commissioner shall, centum at his option, collect duty on the amount determined by the experts, or avail himself of the pre-emption with the addition of the five per mentioned in sub-article (1) of this article, which addition centum shall be likewise granted when the declarant withdraws his application for appraisement:

Provided that in the former case, the duty shall be liable to be increased by fifty if the experts’ appraisement exceeds per centum, by ten the value declared by the importer. per centum

(5) The expenses of the appraisement shall be borne by the declarant, if the value determined by the experts exceeds by more than five per centum the value declared: otherwise, they shall be borne by the Government.