Assessable value under F.O.R. contracts excludes freight and insurance tied to delivery beyond the place of removal.

Under F.O.R. supply contracts, freight and insurance incurred for delivery to the customer's premises are excluded from assessable value because that location is not the place of removal. The valuation applicable at the relevant time therefore required duty to be recomputed on the correct assessable value without those delivery-related charges. Refund and credit consequences had to follow the revised duty computation, limited to duty properly payable after excluding freight and insurance. The analysis relies on settled valuation principles and Supreme Court precedent treating such transport and insurance charges as non-includible where they relate to delivery beyond the place of removal.

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Issues: Whether freight and insurance charges incurred under F.O.R. supply contracts could be included in the assessable value, and whether the resulting duty entitlement, refund and credit had to be recomputed accordingly.

Analysis: The place of delivery at the customer's premises was held not to be the place of removal because goods are delivered there and are not removed from there. The valuation scheme applicable at the material time did not permit inclusion of transportation and insurance charges in the assessable value where such charges related to delivery beyond the place of removal. The reasoning was supported by the settled view that freight and insurance are excludible from assessable value and by the controlling Supreme Court precedent relied upon by the Tribunal.

Conclusion: Freight and insurance charges could not be included in the assessable value. The duty had to be recalculated on the correct assessable value, and refund and credit consequences had to follow that recomputation. The issue was decided against the assessee and in favour of the Revenue.

Final Conclusion: The Department's appeals succeeded, and the respondents' entitlement to refund and their customers' credit was confined to duty properly payable on the reassessed value, excluding freight and insurance.

Ratio Decidendi: Where goods are supplied on an F.O.R. basis and delivery is made at the customer's premises, freight and insurance connected with such delivery do not form part of the assessable value because the customer's premises are not the place of removal.

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