Specialised material handling equipment exclusion applied to dumper tipping gear and steel body; cabin value remained includible.

Tariff Item No. 34 excluded specialised material handling equipment mounted, fitted or fixed on a motor vehicle other than the chassis from valuation, and a dumper with tipping gear and steel body was treated as an integrated motor-vehicle unit. The tipping mechanism and steel body functioned together as the container and working mechanism for moving and dumping materials, so they could not be artificially split for assessment. Their value was therefore excluded from assessment under Tariff Item No. 34. The claim for exclusion of the cabin value was rejected.

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Issues: Whether, for assessment under Tariff Item No. 34, the tipping gear and steel body of a dumper mounted on a chassis were to be treated as specialised material handling equipment and excluded from valuation, and whether the cabin value was includible.

Analysis: Tariff Item No. 34 covered motor vehicles, and its Explanation excluded, from valuation, specialised material handling equipment mounted, fitted or fixed on a motor vehicle, other than the chassis. The dumper remained a motor vehicle even though it was capable of road use and transport over long distances. The tipping gear and steel body together formed the container and working mechanism for moving and dumping materials, and they functioned as an integrated unit. The equipment could not be artificially split into separate parts for valuation because the tipping mechanism was meaningless without the steel body and the steel body could not operate without the tipping mechanism.

Conclusion: The tipping gear and steel body were held to fall within the excluded specialised material handling equipment and their value was not includible for assessment under Tariff Item No. 34. The claim relating to the cabin was rejected.

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