Customs valuation excludes overtime charges to staff because only ordinary and inevitable import costs form assessable value.

Overtime charges paid to Customs staff and recovered from the importer are not includible in assessable value under Section 14 of the Customs Act, 1962 because they are optional, casual and fortuitous, not expenses ordinarily incurred in importation. Customs valuation under Section 14 is tied to the price at which such or like goods are ordinarily sold, so only unavoidable costs ordinarily and inevitably incurred in bringing goods to the stage of sale can form part of assessable value. Charges that are not ordinarily incurred are excluded.

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Issues: Whether overtime charges paid to Customs staff and recovered from the importer form part of the assessable value under Section 14 of the Customs Act, 1962.

Analysis: Overtime charges were held to be optional, casual and fortuitous expenditure, unlike unavoidable expenses such as stevedoring and port charges which are ordinarily incurred in the course of importation. Since assessable value under Section 14 is linked to the price at which such or like goods are ordinarily sold, expenditure not ordinarily incurred cannot be treated as part of that price.

Conclusion: Overtime charges paid to Customs staff do not form part of the assessable value under Section 14 of the Customs Act, 1962.

Ratio Decidendi: Only expenses that are ordinarily and inevitably incurred in bringing imported goods to the stage of sale can be included in assessable value under customs valuation provisions.

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