In Customs Appeal No.10903 of 2022- CESTAT- As per Explanation (iii) (a) to Rule 12 of the Customs Valuation Rules, 2007, if a significantly higher value of identical or similar goods is observed in comparable transactions at roughly the same time, the declared value can be rejected: CESTAT (Ahmedabad)
Members Ramesh Nair (Judicial) & Raju (Technical) [03-05-2023]

Read Order: Kumar Impex V. C.C. Jamnagar (Prev)

Chahat Varma

New Delhi, May 22, 2023: Dismissing the appeal filed by Kumar Impex (appellant), the Ahmedabad bench of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal has held that Explanation (iii) (a) to Rule 12 of the Customs Valuation Rules (CVR), 2007 allows for the rejection of declared value if significantly higher values of identical or similar goods are observed in comparable transactions around the same time.

Brief facts of the case were that appellant had imported ‘Polyester Knitted Fabric’. It was observed that the declared price of the goods by the appellant was significantly lower compared to the price of goods with similar description and commercial level at or around the same time. As a result, the declared price was rejected under Rule 12(1) of the CVR, 2007.

The Tribunal said that the data provided to the appellant was extracted from the NIDB data, and therefore, the demand for providing actual bill of entry and invoices was not necessary to be fulfilled.

It was further observed by the Tribunal that all the doubts raised by the revenue were communicated to the appellant before the final decision was made and this fulfilled the requirement of Rule 12(2) of the CVR, 2007.

The Tribunal noted that the declared assessable value of the goods was USD 1.2/-kg, while contemporaneous imports were valued at USD 2.1 to USD 2.85/kg.

In the said circumstances, the Tribunal found no error in the order that rejected the declared value and instead accepted the lowest of the contemporaneous import value of identically described goods falling under the identical heading imported at roughly the same time.