Official Gazette publication determines when customs notification takes effect for black pepper export duty.

A customs notification published in the Official Gazette takes effect when that Gazette is made available to the public, not merely from the date printed on the notification. As no evidence showed that the Gazette containing the rescinding exemption and revised export duty on black pepper became available only after clearance of the consignments, the notifications were treated as operative from 7 May 1985. The export duty was therefore correctly levied on the black pepper consignments, and the challenge failed.

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Issues: Whether the customs notifications withdrawing exemption and revising export duty on black pepper took effect from the date of their publication in the Official Gazette, thereby making export duty payable on the consignments exported on 7-5-1985 and 9-5-1985.

Analysis: The exemption earlier granted on black pepper was rescinded by Notification No. 147/85-Cus. and the export duty was revised by Notification No. 148/85-Cus., both dated 7-5-1985. The controlling question was not the date printed on the notifications alone, but whether the Official Gazette had been made available to the public before the exports were cleared. No evidence was produced to show that the Gazette was made available only after the exports. The surrounding circumstances, including filing of shipping bills and payment of duty in terms of the notifications, supported the conclusion that the notifications were already known and available on 7-5-1985.

Conclusion: The notifications were effective from 7-5-1985 and the export duty was rightly levied on the consignments. The appeal failed.

Ratio Decidendi: A notification published in the Official Gazette takes effect when the Gazette containing it is made available to the public, and where the record shows no contrary evidence, the notification operates from that date.

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