High-seas sale valuation turns on the genuine transaction price, unless manipulation or falsity in that value is proved.

For valuation of goods sold on the high seas, the assessable value is the genuine transaction price of the high-seas sale between the seller and the purchaser, not the price at which an earlier importer acquired the goods. The earlier Larger Bench view applied that the high-seas transaction value governs unless the department proves that the declared price was manipulated or false. As no such manipulation or falsity was established, the assessable value had to be taken as the price at which the goods were sold to the appellant on the high seas.

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Issues: Whether, for valuation of goods sold on the high seas, the assessable value was to be based on the price at which the high-seas seller purchased the goods or the price at which the goods were sold to the appellant.

Analysis: The value of goods sold on the high seas is to be determined with reference to the transaction between the high-seas seller and the purchaser on the high seas. The earlier Larger Bench ruling held that, in such cases, the relevant value is the sale price in the high-seas transaction. That position applies unless the department shows that the high-seas transaction value was manipulated or false. No such case was made out here.

Conclusion: The assessable value had to be taken as the price at which the goods were sold to the appellant on the high seas, not the price at which the earlier importer purchased them.

Ratio Decidendi: In high-seas sale valuation, the assessable value is the genuine transaction price of the high-seas sale unless the department establishes manipulation or falsity in that transaction value.

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