Customs exemption depends on reading all import documents together, not invoice wording alone, for machine classification.

Contemporaneous import documents may be read together to determine whether a machine answers a notification description for concessional customs assessment. Here, the bill of entry, invoice, packing list, correspondence and catalogue showed that the imported unit was an automatic trimming, threading, rolling, beading and knurling machine capable of use for rigid cans and hollow bodies of non-ferrous metals. The absence of the words "rigid can" in the invoice alone did not defeat the claim, because the broader record established that the machine fell within the description in Notification No. 40/CUS/78 dated 01-03-1978. Exemption was therefore available on the basis of the full documentary description.

---

---

Issues: Whether the imported machine was eligible for concessional assessment under Notification No. 40/CUS/78 dated 01-03-1978 as an automatic rigid can trimming machine.

Analysis: The description in the bill of entry, invoice, packing list, correspondence, and catalogue was read together to identify the character of the imported machine. Although the invoice did not expressly use the words "rigid can", the accompanying material showed that the machine was an automatic trimming, threading, rolling, beading and knurling machine capable of being used for rigid cans and hollow bodies of non-ferrous metals. The denial of exemption based only on the invoice description was found to be incorrect when the other contemporaneous documents established that the machine answered the notification description.

Conclusion: The imported machine was held eligible for exemption under Notification No. 40/CUS/78 dated 01-03-1978, and the claim was allowed.

---