2015 (12) TMI 721 - AT - Customs

Determination of assessable value of the ball bearings - Enhancement in value based upon the Circular No. S/26-Misc.-2195/2005 VA, dated 24-9-2008 - Held that - Tribunal in the case of Commissioner of Customs, New Delhi v. Nath International reported in 2013 (12) TMI 1042 - CESTAT NEW DELHI has considered an identical situation and has held that the instruction issued by the Commissioner of Customs (Import), Mumbai cannot be solely adopted for enhancing the assessable value without first rejecting the transaction value and the invoice value. Further it was held that such enhancement, without examining the quality of the goods and the size of the ball bearings etc. which were of different sizes, cannot be held to be justifiable. - Impugned order is set aside - Decided in favour of assessee.

Summary

Issues: Assessable value of imported goods based on Circular issued by Commissioner of Customs.

In this judgment by the Appellate Tribunal CESTAT NEW DELHI, the issue involved was the assessable value of imported Chinese ball bearings. The appellants had imported five consignments of ball bearings and filed different bills of entries. The lower authorities enhanced the value of the bearings based on a Circular issued by the Commissioner of Customs, which fixed floor prices for different sizes of Chinese ball bearings. The Tribunal noted that the Revenue solely relied on this Circular and did not provide any other evidence to reject the transaction value. The Tribunal emphasized that assessable values cannot be fixed by the assessing officer on their own, as the provision for fixing such values is under Section 14(2) of the Customs Act, 1962.

Furthermore, the Tribunal referred to a previous case where it was held that instructions issued by the Commissioner of Customs cannot be solely adopted for enhancing the assessable value without first rejecting the transaction value and the invoice value. The Tribunal emphasized that the quality of the goods and the size of the ball bearings must be examined before any enhancement can be deemed justifiable. Therefore, based on the precedent set by the previous case, the Tribunal set aside the impugned order and allowed all the appeals, providing consequential relief to the appellant.

Overall, the judgment highlights the importance of proper assessment procedures and the necessity of examining all relevant factors before enhancing the assessable value of imported goods based on circulars issued by customs authorities.