Introduction

Once the importer imports goods and declares before the customs point, its credibility has to be checked on the basis of its records of accounts and trade, which process is known as post clearance audit. In other words, the process of determining, after examining the import related papers of importer, commercial documents and its accounts/balances, whether the goods imported by importer are the ones declared by it or not, whether any duties or taxes are still to recover or not, whether there is under invoicing or not, whether the Customs Act, rules and other prevailing laws are observed in true sense or not, refers to post clearance audit.

· This Office has been established on 21st September, 2009

· This is an Office of central level

· This Office has the jurisdiction of post clearance as regards goods imported through any Customs Office of Nepal

Context

Prior to Nepal becoming a member of World Trade Organization (WTO) the goods were evaluated at the price fixed by the government, in other words, by the Department of Customs. However, post the WTO membership of Nepal in 2004, as per its commitment, needed to adopt entire provisions of WTO/GATT Valuation System. Hence, those provisions are incorporated in the Customs Act, 2007 and have been implemented accordingly.

Since, Nepal has become a member party of WTO and WCO, it becomes mandatory for the country to adhere to the principles determined by those institutions with respect to trade facilitation, customs simplification and harmonization of procedures. The Revised Kyoto Convention has issued governing principles for trade facilitation, customs simplification and harmonization of procedures. Out of these principles, Use of Risk Management and Audit Based Control stands to be prominent. While adopting WTO Valuation System based on actual valuation, this regime is urgent for customs administration and is an effective mechanism for disciplining the importers. Hence, this Office has been established so as to run all these affairs in an efficacious manner.