Provisional customs assessment must be finalised first before duty demand on imported instruction manuals can be sustained.

Imported instruction manuals cleared under provisional assessment could not be subjected to duty demand before final assessment was completed. Correspondence relied on by the department did not amount to finalisation of the assessment, so the demand was premature and unsustainable at that stage. Finalisation had to be undertaken in accordance with the applicable classification rules and Section 19 of the Customs Act, 1962 before any enforceable demand could be raised.

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Issues: Whether duty could be demanded on the imported instruction manuals before finalisation of the provisional assessment, and whether the assessment was required to be finalised in accordance with law.

Analysis: The goods were cleared provisionally, and the correspondence relied upon by the department did not amount to finalisation of the assessment. In such circumstances, a demand raised before completing final assessment was premature. The matter was also required to be considered in the light of the applicable classification rules and the relevance of Section 19 of the Customs Act, 1962 while finalising the assessment.

Conclusion: The demand could not be sustained at that stage, and the assessment had to be finalised first.

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