Customs reference bar applies where exemption notification interpretation affects rate of duty and blocks High Court reference.

Section 130 of the Customs Act bars a reference to the High Court where the order concerns a question relating to the rate of duty of customs or the value of goods for assessment. Interpretation and application of an exemption notification, when it forms part of the dispute, falls within that statutory bar because it bears on duty liability and rate-related questions. On that basis, a reference application raising such issues was held not maintainable and was dismissed.

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Issues: Whether a reference application to the High Court was maintainable under section 130 of the Customs Act where the order involved eligibility to an exemption notification and questions relating to rate of duty.

Analysis: Section 130 bars a reference in respect of an order relating, among other things, to the determination of any question having a relation to the rate of duty of customs or to the value of goods for assessment. Interpretation and application of the exemption notification formed one of the issues in the case, and such a question falls within the statutory bar. Accordingly, no reference could lie to the High Court.

Conclusion: The reference application was not maintainable and stood dismissed.

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