Declared import value cannot be rejected where commercial documents support a post-revision shipment price and earlier imports predate the revision.

Declared import value could not be rejected where the assessee supported it with the manufacturer's price revision letter, invoices and shipping documents showing shipment after the effective price revision. The department's contemporaneous imports at a higher price were from earlier shipments made before the revision date, while post-revision imports reflected the lower revised price. On that record, the lower authorities were not justified in ignoring the commercial evidence and enhancing value merely on the basis of earlier imports. The declared transaction value was therefore required to be accepted and assessed accordingly, with consequential relief following from rejection of the proposed enhancement.

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Issues: Whether the declared value of the imported goods was liable to be rejected and enhanced on the basis of contemporaneous imports at a higher price.

Analysis: The declared price was supported by the manufacturer's price revision letter, the relevant invoices, and shipping documents showing that the consignments were shipped after the supplier's price revision effective from 15-9-2000. The higher-priced contemporaneous imports relied on by the department related to shipments made prior to that date, when the international price was USD 833 per MT, whereas the subject imports and other cited imports after that date reflected the revised price of USD 783 per MT. The evidence supporting the declared transaction value was not considered by the lower authorities, and the record showed that post-revision imports were assessed on the lower declared value.

Conclusion: The declared transaction value could not be rejected, and the goods were required to be assessed on the basis of the value declared by the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The enhancement of value was unsustainable, and the assessee was entitled to the consequential relief flowing from acceptance of the declared import value.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the declared import price is supported by contemporaneous commercial documents and the evidence shows that the relevant shipment occurred after a supplier's effective price revision, valuation cannot be rejected merely because earlier imports of the same goods were cleared at a higher price.

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