Customs notification effective only on public availability, so differential duty cannot apply to goods cleared earlier.

A customs notification enhancing duty takes effect only when it is made available to the public, not merely on the date it is issued. Where goods are cleared before public availability of the notification, a demand for differential duty cannot be sustained. The Tribunal followed its earlier decision on the same notifications and identical issue, and held that the enhanced duty could not apply to clearances made before the notification was publicly available.

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Issues: Whether customs notifications enhancing duty became operative from the date of issue or only from the date they were made available to the public, and whether a demand for differential duty on goods cleared before public availability was sustainable.

Analysis: The goods had been cleared on the same date on which the notifications were issued, while the admitted position was that the notifications were made available for public sale only later. The prior Tribunal decision on the same notifications and on an identical question was followed. The applicable principle was that, where a notification is not made available to the public on the date of issue, it does not operate against goods cleared before such public availability.

Conclusion: The differential duty demand was not sustainable and the appeal was allowed.

Ratio Decidendi: A customs notification enhancing duty becomes effective only when it is made available to the public, and not merely on the date of its issue, so it cannot support a differential duty demand for goods cleared before public availability.

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