KATHMANDU, Dec 10: Customs agents have called off their protests after the government agreed to review the provisions of excessive cash penalties introduced in the new law.
The customs agents launched agitations after the government on Saturday implemented the Customs Act 2025 that talks about taking stern actions against misconducts in customs clearance procedures to minimize revenue leakage via cross-border smuggling of goods. The protests included pendown at the customs points, halting the office work of the customs offices for the past two days.
According to the Ministry of Finance (MoF), the two-day long talks with the customs agents started from Tuesday was held in the Department of Customs. Issuing a press release on Wednesday, the Federation of Customs Agent Nepal has stated that they have cancelled the protest programs after the government turned positive to address the problems of the customs agents.
Through the recently amended Customs Act, the government has imposed a cash penalty up to 200 percent for revenue leakage if traders are found cheating deliberately by modifying specifications or producing fake documents of goods for imports and exports. Unlike the previous law based on the smuggling in import process, the new law also considers scope of the offense cases against fraudulent exporters.
In case if the quantity is found to be lower than the specified quantity as stated in the self declaration form, the traders will have to pay cent percent of the cheated amount in cash penalty. Previously, the traders found guilty in such cases were supposed to pay 50 percent in cash penalty.
The amended Act considers the individuals, who influence the customs officials to do any misconduct, also as equally guilty and will be subjected to face legal actions. If the influencing person is a civil servant, the new law imposes a cash penalty of Rs 10,000 to Rs 50,000 or one-year jail term or both.
Customs revenue collection drops to zero as customs agents’ protest halts cargo
Thousands of cargo trucks carrying imported goods have queued up at the major customs points including Birgunj, Biratnagar and Bhairahawa due to the protests of customs agents.
According to the Department of Customs, more than 3,000 cargo trucks have been halted in Birgunj Customs Office. The customs point that used to clear around 500 cargoes daily collects Rs 600-650 million revenue in a day. Udaya Singh Bista, information office of Birgunj Customs, said the customs revenue collection also stopped completely due to the reason.