Gazetted notification effective date: department must prove actual publication date when relying on a customs demand.

A gazetted customs exemption notification is presumed to take effect from the date shown on it unless later actual publication is demonstrated. Where the department relies on that notification to sustain a demand, it must produce the factual material showing the relevant publication date, rather than requiring the taxpayer to prove the negative. The Tribunal therefore directed the department to report when the notification was actually made available to the public, because the demand notice and original order did not adequately address that factual issue.

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Issues: Whether the Tribunal should require the department to furnish the actual date on which the gazette notification was made available to the public, and whether the burden of proving the date of commencement of the notification lay on the department.

Analysis: The dispute turned on the effective date of a customs exemption notification, because a gazetted notification is presumed to operate from the date shown on it unless the contrary is shown. Where the department raises a demand based on that notification, it must support the demand with the relevant factual material, and the appellant should not be compelled to prove the negative without assistance from the authorities. The demand notice and the order in original also lacked reasons, and the lower authorities had not properly addressed the factual question of publication. In these circumstances, the Tribunal found it to call for the factual information rather than invoke coercive procedural powers at that stage.

Conclusion: The department was directed to report the date on which the relevant gazette notification was actually made available to the public, and the application was disposed of accordingly.

Final Conclusion: The application succeeded to the extent that the Tribunal required the department to place the decisive publication-date information before it, leaving the substantive duty dispute to be considered on that factual basis.

Ratio Decidendi: A gazetted notification is presumed to operate from the date stated on it unless actual publication on a later date is shown, and when the department relies on that notification to raise a demand, the burden of producing the relevant factual material lies on the department.

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