Customs valuation and exemption notifications do not permit deduction of packing value from imported goods' assessable value.

An exemption notification under Section 25 of the Customs Act could exempt packages from customs duty, but it did not alter the valuation rule under Section 14 or authorise deduction of packing value from the assessable value of imported goods. The assessable value remained the price ordinarily realised in international trade, and packing costs formed part of the invoice value of the goods. The notification therefore applied only to separate duty treatment of packages where its conditions were met, and it did not create any right to reduce CIF or invoice value by excluding package value.

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Issues: Whether Notification No. 184/76-Cus. granted exemption only to packages as separate goods, or also entitled importers to deduct the value of the packages from the assessable value of imported goods under Section 14 of the Customs Act, 1962.

Analysis: The exemption notification was issued under Section 25 of the Customs Act, 1962, which empowers the Central Government to exempt goods from duty, but not to prescribe a different mode of valuation or to direct deduction of any component from the value determined under Section 14. The assessable value of imported goods is the price at which the goods are ordinarily sold in the course of international trade, and the invoice value includes packing costs as part of that price. The notification on its terms exempted packages from being separately charged to customs duty when the stated conditions were satisfied; it did not create any right to reduce the CIF or invoice value of the principal goods by deducting the value of the packages. The legislative scheme did not permit splitting the composite value of the imported goods into constituent parts for such deduction.

Conclusion: The notification did not authorize exclusion of the value of the packages from the assessable value of the imported goods, and the importers' claim for refund or restraint against inclusion of package value failed.

Ratio Decidendi: An exemption notification under Section 25 of the Customs Act, 1962 may exempt goods or packages from duty, but it does not, in the absence of express authority, permit deduction of the value of packing material from the assessable value of imported goods under Section 14.

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