Malaysia legislation
Section 17
Section 17
Provided that—
(a)
through inadvertence, error, or for any other reason, misconstruction on the part of any officer of customs, or through unintentional misstatement as to value, quantity or description by any person, or for any other reason, the whole or any part of any customs duty, surcharge, penalty, fee or other money payable under this Act have not been paid; or
(b)
the whole or any part of any customs duty, surcharge, penalty, fee or other money after having been paid, have been, owing to any cause, erroneously refunded, the person liable to pay such customs duty, surcharge, penalty, fee or other money or the person to whom such refund has erroneously been made, as the case may be, shall pay the deficiency or repay the amount paid to him in excess, on demand being made within *six years from the date on which customs duty, surcharge, penalty, fee or other money was payable or deficient customs duty, surcharge, penalty, fee or other money was paid or the refund was made, as the case may be, and without prejudice to any other remedy for the recovery of the amount due, any goods belonging to such person which may be in customs control may be detained until such customs duty, surcharge, penalty,
*NOTE—Previously “three years from the date on which customs duty was payable or deficient customs duty was paid”–see subparagraph 11(a)(iv) of Customs (Amendment) Act 2019 [Act A1593].
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fee or other money or deficiency be paid or the refund be repaid, as the case may be.
(2)
(Deleted by Act A1593).
(3)
Nothing in subsection (1) shall prejudice the exercise of the rights and powers under this section by the Director General to seize or, subject to subsection (4), sell any goods under customs control belonging to the person liable to pay such customs duty, surcharge, penalty, fee or other money for the recovery of the amount payable under subsection (1) or (7), or any outstanding balance thereof.
(4)
If the customs duty, surcharge, penalty, fee or other money or the deficient customs duty, surcharge, penalty, fee or other money, or the refund to be repaid remain unpaid, as the case may be, the Director
General may sell such goods seized under subsection (3)—
(a)
after giving not less than thirty days’ notice in writing from the date of seizure to the person or his agent if the name and address of such owner or agent is known to the Director
General; or
(b)
after giving not less than thirty days’ notice in the Gazette if the name and address of such owner or his agent is not known to the Director General.
(5)
The proceeds of sale of any goods under subsection (4) shall be applied to the payment of—
(a)
the customs duty, surcharge, penalty, fee or other money;
or
(b)
the recovery of any amount or charges which may be due in respect of selling off such goods, and the surplus, if any, shall be paid to the person liable to pay the amount due under subsection (1) and if such person cannot be found within one month of the sale, such surplus shall be paid into the
Consolidated Fund.
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(6)
If at the sale of any goods under subsection (4) no sufficient bid is forthcoming to defray the customs duty, surcharge, penalty, fee or other money or the deficient customs duty, surcharge, penalty, fee or other money payable or the refund erroneously paid, as the case may be, the goods shall be forfeited to the Government and shall be disposed of in such manner as the Director General may direct.
(7)
Nothing in subsection (1) shall prevent the Director General from making a demand at any time after six years whenever any payment of customs duty, surcharge, penalty, fee or other money is not paid or short paid due to any form of fraud or default committed by or on behalf of any person.
Recovery of custom duty, etc. from persons leaving Malaysia