2005 (1) TMI 506

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..... ings, payment of which is to be made in German Marks. In addition, 5% of the contracted price is to be paid as commission to the agent in India which is includible in the assessable value of the imported ball bearings. The contention of the department is that the exchange rate prescribed by the Central Govt. under Section 14 of the Customs Act, 1962 will have to be applied for converting the total value of the imported goods inclusive of the local agency commission. Commissioner (Appeals), however, under the impugned order has held that the amount to be paid to the Indian agent arrived at by converting the amount involved at a fixed rate of exchange, actually paid/payable in Indian currency at the pre-determined rate of exchange would only .....

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..... rges are to be added to the extent they are incurred and not more than what have been incurred. In the present matter commission paid to the Indian agent is after converting the Deutch Mark (DM) into Indian Currency at the fixed rate and as the particular amount has been paid as local agent commission under Rule 9(1), only the said amount as paid has to be included in the assessable value for the purpose of levying duty. He also contends that Customs Valuation Rules, have been enacted separately in parity with the provisions of GATT. He relied upon the decision of the Hon ble Delhi High Court in the case of Essar Steels v. U.O.I. reported in 2001 (128) E.L.T. 353 (Del.). The learned Counsel finally submitted that once certain amount of pric .....

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..... on is also very clear from the decision of the Delhi High Court in the case of Essar Steels Ltd. (supra) relied upon by the learned Counsel for the respondents. It has been observed by the Delhi High Court in the said judgment that GATT Code of Valuation adopted during the Tokyo Round of Multilaterial Trade Negotiations under the GATT (1973-1979) contains elaborate rules to provide for greater uniformity and certainty in the application of Article VII of the GATT for determining the value of imported goods, as India is a contracting party to this Agreement, it was necessary for India to implement said GATT Code of Valuation and in that context, sub-section (1A) has been inserted by replacing Section 14(1)(b), in order to enable the Central .....

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