Cross-border trade demands speed and certainty. We advise on the Customs Act, 1969 throughout the import/export lifecycle: valuation (transaction value/adjustments), classification, provisional assessment, redeption/fines and penalties, rules of origin/FTA preferences, seizure and adjudication, and post-clearance audit. We also address port-side realities—detention/demurrage, bonded warehousing, and carrier/terminal disputes—to keep cargo moving.

Our team has deep experience with Valuation Rulings issued by the Directorate General of Customs Valuation (DG Valuation), including representational hearings, revision/clarification petitions, and challenges to non-market or obsolete benchmarks. We regularly contest assessments and demand notices before the Collector (Appeals) and the Customs Appellate Tribunal, and pursue relief in the High Courts where jurisdictional or procedural defects arise.

For importers, manufacturers, and logistics businesses, we craft clearance strategies that minimise dwell time and align with documentary evidence (invoices, price lists, charter-party terms, Incoterms). We negotiate with carriers and terminals on detention/demurrage and deploy legal measures to cap exposure where delays are caused by official acts or contested assessments.

Our lawyers have successfully represented leading clients in large-ticket valuation and classification disputes—prevailing before DG Valuation, the Customs Appellate Tribunal, and the High Courts—resulting in reassessments, refunds, and withdrawal of coercive recovery, while re-establishing predictable landed-cost baselines for future consignments.