Declared import value cannot be enhanced without reliable contemporaneous import evidence supporting a higher assessable value.

Declared import value cannot be rejected merely because a proforma invoice suggests a higher price. The Department must produce reliable evidence of actual contemporaneous imports of identical or comparable goods at the higher value before enhancing assessable value. Here, the relied-upon document was only a proforma invoice, not proof of an actual commercial sale, and no invoice was produced to establish the asserted higher contemporaneous price. In the absence of such evidence, enhancement of value could not be sustained and the Revenue's challenge failed.

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Issues: Whether the assessable value of the imported goods could be enhanced on the basis of a proforma invoice and asserted contemporaneous imports, and whether the Revenue had produced sufficient evidence to discard the declared value.

Analysis: The declared value was sought to be rejected on the footing that the description of the goods had been misdeclared and that a proforma invoice of the same supplier showed a much higher price. The record, however, showed that the relied-upon document was only a proforma invoice and not evidence of an actual commercial sale at the higher price. The commercial invoice subsequently produced disclosed a unit price of US$ 15 per roll, and the Department was unable to produce any invoice establishing a higher contemporaneous import price of US$ 114 per roll. In the absence of reliable evidence of actual contemporaneous imports of identical or comparable goods at the higher value, the basis adopted for enhancement could not be sustained.

Conclusion: The enhancement of value was not justified, and the Revenue's challenge to the order rejecting such enhancement failed.

Ratio Decidendi: A declared import value cannot be enhanced merely on the basis of a proforma invoice unless the Department establishes actual contemporaneous import evidence supporting the higher value.

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