TMI Blog1995 (5) TMI 25X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... be relied upon and yet came to the conclusion that the price of the goods must be of the same place of origin as was claimed by the importer. Appeal allowed. - 5411 of 1990 - - - Dated:- 5-5-1995 - S.P. Bharucha, Suhas C. Sen and Paripoornan, JJ. [Judgment per : Suhas C. Sen, J.]. - M/s. Shiv Shankar International, 69/10, 72 Canning Street, Calcutta, imported the following four consignments of Zip Rolls from Singapore and filed four Bills of Entry in the Customs House, Calcutta, as follows :- 8,00,000 yards of Zip Roll No. 5 `CF' type per vessel John(1) Everett, Rot No. 692/89, Line No. 196, declared C.I.F. value Rs. 3,06,941.52 against B/E No. 1236, dated 20-11-1989. 7,60,000 yards of Zip Roll No. 5 `CF' type per vessel John(2) Everett, Rot No. 692/89, Line No. 197, declared C.I.F. value Rs. 2,91,594.44 against B/E No. 1237, dated 20-11-1989. 8,00,000 yards of Zip Roll No. 5 `CF' type per vessel(3) Calabar, Rot No. 687/89, Line No. 323, declared C.I.F. value Rs. 3,06,911.52 against B/E No. 1654, dated 28-11-1989. 8,00,000 yards of Zip Roll No. 5 `CF' type per vessel(4) Calabar, Rot No. 687/89, Line No. 324, declared C.I.F. value Rs. 3,06,941.52 against B/E No. 16 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s to have purchased the goods(8) from M/s. Greenland Textiles Pvt. Ltd., Singapore, who in turn claim to have purchased the same from M/s. Korea Building National Exp. and Imp. Corporation are not acceptable as there are only 2 dealers in DPR Korea Zip Rolls in Singapore for South East Asia and Far East, namely, M/s. D N Textiles and General Exporters and M/s. Multimill Impex Singapore Pte. Ltd. who have been authorised by Korea Namyang Trading Corporation (DPR Korea). that on a reference to the Commercial Section, Embassy of(9) the DPR Korea in the Republic of Singapore, the certificates of origin produced by the importers and purported to have been issued by the Korea Foreign Commodity Inspection Committee, Pyongyang, Korea, have been found to be incorrect and forged; that the goods under import have been imported not in(10) normal export-worthy packing but only in plastic bags without showing any marks and numbers and other usual particulars such as trader's name, country of origin etc." 5.The importer was directed to show cause why the imported goods should not be confiscated under Section 111(d) and (m) of the Customs Act, 1962 read with Imports and Exports (Control) ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... se certificates had to be given to the importer. 9.The Collector of Customs thereafter went into the question of what should be proper value of the Zip Rolls imported by the appellant for determination of Customs Duty. Prices of similar goods of Japanese, Taiwanese and South Korean origin were taken into consideration. It has been stated that these are the countries from which Zip Rolls are usually purchased in the international trade. It was found that the prices of South Korean Zip Rolls were the lowest. Since there was no clear evidence of the country of origin of imported goods, the importer was given the benefit of the lowest price quoted by South Korean exporters. In the absence of any other evidence, the South Korean price of US $ 5.97 per 100 yards was adopted for arriving at the value of the Zip Rolls imported by the appellant. 10.Various consequential orders levying duty and penalty were passed. On appeal, the Customs, Excise Gold (Control) Appellate Tribunal (CEGAT), after the review of the facts, came to the conclusion that the certificates of origin, furnished by the appellant, were not genuine. It also came to the conclusion that "we are of the view that the goo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the view that the goods are not imported from DPR Korea", could come to the conclusion that the declared price of importer which was the market price of DPR Korea, should be accepted as the transaction value of the goods. 14.CEGAT failed to appreciate that Rules 3 and 4 could not be applied in the facts of this case. The importer had declared that the goods were of North Korean origin and a price of US $ 2.28 per 100 yards was shown as the price paid for the imported goods. This was the price prevalent in North Korea and was very much lower than the price of Zip Rolls imported from Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. 15.CEGAT in its order has relied on Rule 3 and Rule 4 but failed to appreciate that these Rules are not applicable in the facts of this case. Rules 3 and [4] of the Customs Valuation (Determination of Price of Imported Goods) Rules, 1988 are as under :- Determination of the method of valuation. - For the purpose"3. of these rules, (i) the value of the imported goods shall be the transaction value; (ii) if the value cannot be determined under the provisions of clause (i) above, the value shall be determined by proceeding sequentially through Rules 5 to 8 of these ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 3. This is not a rule of invariable application regardless of the circumstances. It cannot be applied when forged documents are produced to show the place of origin of the goods. The irresistible conclusion from the facts found in this case is that the real value of the imported goods has not been shown in the invoices. Therefore, the value of the imported goods, as declared by the importer cannot be taken as the transaction value. 19.The Tribunal also observed that there was no finding by the Collector that Zip Rolls imported by other parties from Japan, South Korea or Taiwan were identical in all respects. Therefore, these goods could not be valued on the basis of price of the goods of South Korean, Taiwanese or Japanese origin. 20.In the facts of this case, this reasoning cannot also be sustained. What the Collector has done is to reject the North Korean price of the imported goods declared by the importer in the invoices because the goods were found not to be of North Korean origin. He had thereafter taken into consideration the prices of similar goods of three other countries - Japan, Taiwan and South Korea - and has taken the lowest amongst these as the value of the goods ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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