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2022 (4) TMI 892 - AT - CustomsClassification of imported goods - two vessels declared as ‘Excursion Boat Monterey 180 FSW/Volvo Penta 3.0 GL; 135 HP’ - to be classified under tariff item 8901 1030 or under tariff item 8903 9990 of the First Schedule to Customs Tariff Act 1975? - HELD THAT:- Assessment, the most basic objective of customs law, is the application of the prescribed rate of duty to the value of imported goods. Unlike valuation, based on a conceptual articulation attended by an exhaustive string of sequential options that may be leveraged to discard value declared by the importer before substitution by an appraised value without compromise to the integrity of statutory intent, most appropriate fitment for classification can be implemented only by the default adoption of acceptable declaration in bill of entry to be disturbed only by independent, and not comparative, fitment of the description corresponding to tariff item canvassed by customs authorities. The impugned order being nothing other than mere endorsement of the finding of the original authority, it is to the latter that we turn to for ascertainment of discharge of onus mandated by the Hon’ble Supreme Court. The original authority appears to have relied upon some definition of ‘excursion boats’ which neither answers as a description of the impugned vessel nor is validated to assist, by revealed provenance, in judicial determination - Furthermore, the contents - pictorial and verbal - of the promotional material appear to have had such undue influence as to gloss over its pertinence to ‘Monterey 180 FSW’ therein even as it purports to advert only to ‘Monterey 180 FS’ which may well be the ‘sports’ version of a glamourless transport vessel. The original authority appears to have indulged in conjecture which responsible discharge of authority to assess does not permit. With the failure to establish the appropriateness of the specific enumerations in heading 8903 of First Schedule to Customs Tariff Act, 1975 or of the enumerated specific descriptions corresponding to tariff items in heading 8903 of First Schedule to Customs Tariff Act, 1975, the description sought by the appellant does not have to be compared with that proposed by customs authorities. The declared classification prevails by default without going into its merit; of course, the capacity of the imported vessels for carrying up to eight passengers and some luggage, implying unsuitability for endurance and speed that are hallmarks of vessels for sports and pleasure, immunizes the declaration in the bills of entry from being discarded. The description and the classification declared in the bill of entry cannot be faulted - appeal allowed.
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