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2023 (2) TMI 1038 - AT - CustomsValuation of import goods - Alloy Wheels of motorcycles - rejection of declared value - redetermination of assessable value - market survey was actually conducted in the presence of the proprietor and as per the opinion given by the shopkeepers, the retail sale price was ascertained - HELD THAT:- It is no doubt true that the value of the imported goods shall be the transaction value of such goods when the buyer and the seller of goods are not related and the price is the sole consideration, but this is subject to such conditions as may be specified in the rules to be made in this behalf. The Valuation Rules have been framed. A perusal of rule 12(1) indicates that when the proper officer has reason to doubt the truth or accuracy of the value of the imported goods, he may ask the importer to furnish further information. Rule 12(2) stipulates that it is only if an importer makes a request that the proper officer shall, before taking a final decision, intimate the importer in writing the grounds for doubting the truth or accuracy of the value declared and provide a reasonable opportunity of being heard - Explanation 1(iii)(a) provides that the proper officer can have doubts regarding the truth or accuracy of the declared value if the goods of a comparable nature were assessed at a significantly higher value at about the same time. The very fact that the importer had agreed for enhancement of the declared value in the statements made under by section 108 of the Customs Act, itself implies that the importer had not accepted the value declared in the Bills of Entry. The value declared in the Bills of Entry, therefore, automatically stood rejected. Further, once the importer had accepted the enhanced value, it was really not necessary for the assessing authority to undertake the exercise of determining the value of the declared goods under the provisions of rules 4 to 9 of the Valuation Rules. This is for the reason that it is only when the value of the imported goods cannot be determined under sub-rule (1) of rule 3 for the reason that the declared value has been rejected under sub rule (2), that the value of the imported goods is required to be determined by proceeding sequentially through rules 4 to 9. However, in the present case, not only did the proprietor make a statement on April 27, 2017 that a market survey should be conducted, since the value and the retail price of the goods imported were not in consonance with the market price of such goods sold in the Indian market, but a market survey was actually conducted in the presence of the proprietor and as per the opinion given by the shopkeepers, the retail sale price was ascertained, which price was accepted to be correct by the proprietor in the statement made on April 27, 2017. When he was shown details of how the value was calculated, the proprietor admitted that it was based on the value ascertained during the market survey and agreed to pay the differential duty with interest. When the proprietor had admitted the re-determined value and also paid the differential duty with interest and penalty imposed by the competent authority, it is not open to the appellant to now contend, after goods have been cleared, that the market value could not have been re-determined - the value has been re-determined on the basis of the opinion given by the shopkeepers during the market survey, which value was accepted by the appellant. It is, therefore, not a case where only the statement of the proprietor has been relied upon. The provisions of section 111(m) of the Customs Act have been correctly invoked as the value of the goods imported by the appellant do not correspond with the value given by the appellant in the Bills of Entry. Appeal dismissed.
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