Landing charges assessed on percentage basis cannot be split and added again to import value.

Where landing charges are assessed as a percentage of CIF value, they are treated as covering the full expenditure incurred to bring imported goods to land. On that basis, Pull Buck Tug Charges, Tug/Launch Charges and Port Tonnage Charges, being part of the landing process, could not be split out and added again to the assessable value. The Tribunal followed the settled principle that once landing-related costs are loaded in this manner, no further separate addition is permissible. The disputed charges were therefore held not includible in assessable value, and the Revenue's challenge was rejected.

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Issues: Whether Pull Buck Tug Charges, Tug/Launch Charges and Port Tonnage Charges were includible in the assessable value of the imported goods when landing charges had already been loaded into value.

Analysis: The assessment had already incorporated landing charges at a percentage of CIF value. The governing principle applied was that once landing charges are assessed on a percentage basis, they cover the totality of the expenditure incurred for bringing the goods to land, and no further addition can be made for items that form part of that landing process. The Tribunal followed the settled view that such charges cannot be split out and added again to the assessable value.

Conclusion: The disputed charges were not includible in the assessable value and the Revenue's appeal failed.

Final Conclusion: The impugned order was upheld and the Revenue's challenge to the exclusion of the disputed charges from assessable value was rejected.

Ratio Decidendi: Where landing charges are assessed on a percentage basis, they exhaust the landing-related expenditure and no further amount can be added separately towards charges forming part of that landing process.

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