Customs valuation must follow prior reasoned acceptance of invoice price for identical imports absent independent rebuttal.

Customs authorities cannot reject the invoice price for imported ball bearings where a prior reasoned valuation order on an identical import has already accepted that price as the correct value under Section 14(1)(a) of the Customs Act. In the absence of any affidavit or independent material rebutting that valuation, the authorities are bound by the earlier determination and have no legal basis to insist on loading the value. Clearance on a loaded value was therefore unsustainable, and the goods were to be cleared on the invoice price.

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Issues: Whether the customs authorities were justified in refusing clearance of imported ball bearings on the basis that the invoice price should not be accepted as the correct value.

Analysis: In an identical matter concerning Romanian-origin ball bearings, the Collector of Customs had already examined the material and held that the invoice price, being based on the prevailing price list, was the correct value under Section 14(1)(a) of the Customs Act. The earlier valuation order was detailed and reasoned, and the same view was held to be correct. In the absence of any affidavit rebutting the petitioner's case, and since the respondents offered no independent basis for rejecting the invoice price, they were bound by that valuation determination.

Conclusion: The refusal to clear the goods on a loaded value was unsustainable, and clearance was directed on the basis of the invoice price in favour of the petitioner.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an identical import is governed by a prior reasoned valuation determination accepting the invoice price as the correct value under the Customs Act, the customs authorities are bound to follow that determination and cannot insist on loading the value without an independent legal basis.

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