Customs duty liability on warehouse clearance is fixed at the date of home consumption, not initial import or warehousing.

In customs matters, the taxable event for duty is the clearance of goods from a bonded warehouse for home consumption, and the applicable duty rate is determined on that clearance date. Where a special additional duty comes into force before such clearance, it applies to the imported goods even if they were earlier imported or warehoused. Excise principles were treated as inapplicable because excise is levied at manufacture, not at customs clearance. The result is that duty liability follows the date the goods cross the customs barrier on warehouse clearance, not the date of import or warehousing.

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Issues: Whether special additional duty was leviable on imported goods cleared from bonded warehouse on the date of clearance, and whether the date of import or the date of warehousing governed the levy.

Analysis: For customs duty purposes, the taxable event is the clearance of goods from the bonded warehouse for home consumption. The applicable rate of duty, including any additional duty, is therefore determined on the date of such clearance. The special additional duty had already come into force when the goods were cleared in these cases, so the assessee remained liable. The authorities dealing with excise duty were held inapplicable because excise is attracted at the stage of manufacture, not at the stage of customs clearance. The different case relied upon by the assessee was found to concern a different statutory regime and did not govern the issue.

Conclusion: The levy of special additional duty on the goods cleared from the bonded warehouse was valid and payable by the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: In customs matters, the taxable event and the relevant date for duty liability are fixed at the point when goods cross the customs barrier on clearance from bonded warehouse for home consumption, not when they first enter India or are warehoused.

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