Customs valuation excludes barging charges where CIF import price already includes freight to the Indian port.

Where imported goods are bought under a CIF or equivalent arrangement and freight up to the Indian port is already included in the declared price, barging charges for moving the cargo from anchorage to jetty are not part of the assessable value. The valuation principle under Section 14 of the Customs Act requires assessment on the deemed import value at the time and place of import, not on every ancillary transport expense actually incurred by the importer. On that basis, the additional barge cost could not be loaded into customs value.

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Issues: Whether barging charges incurred for transporting imported goods from the anchorage point to the jetty are includible in the assessable value for customs duty purposes.

Analysis: The goods were imported under CIF arrangements and the freight up to the Indian port was already reflected in the declared value. The import line of reasoning sought to add the additional cost of carriage by barge from the anchorage to the jetty as an extended transportation expense under the valuation rules. The Court applied the principle laid down by the Supreme Court that Section 14 of the Customs Act creates a deeming fiction and that valuation must proceed on the ordinary international trade value at the time and place of import, not on every actual expense incurred by the importer. Since the cost of transport to the port had already been included and the extra movement by barge was only to overcome the vessel's inability to reach the jetty, a further addition under the valuation rules was held impermissible.

Conclusion: Barging charges were not includible in the assessable value and the assessee succeeded on the issue.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the import price already includes freight to the Indian port under a CIF or equivalent contract, additional barging charges for moving goods from anchorage to jetty cannot be added to the assessable value under the customs valuation rules, because Section 14 of the Customs Act requires valuation on a deemed import value and not on the importer's actual ancillary transport .

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