Case 1:

COMMNR. OF CUSTOMS EXCISE, NEW DELHI VERSUS M/S. LIVING MEDIA (INDIA) LTD. Supreme Court Case relates to: Valuation - Rule 2(2) of Customs Valuation Rules, 1988 - inclusion of royalty in the invoice value Import of pre-recorded music cassettes by Living Media Ltd and whether royalty has to be included in the invoice value on which customs duty is payable. Held that: When pre-recorded music cassette is imported as against the blank cassette, definitely its value goes up in the market which is in addition to its value and therefore duty shall have to be charged on the value of the final product. There is an agreement existing in all the matters that royalty payment is towards money to be paid to artists and producers who had produced such cassettes. It could therefore, be concluded that the payment of royalty was a condition of sale. Value of the royalty paid is to be included in the transaction value. Commentary on the GATT Customs Valuation Code is not applicable.

Case 2:
M/S. BEST MEGA INTERNATIONAL & OTHERS VERSUS THE COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS - High Court Case relates to: Confiscation and Non release of subject good on account of e-waste. (A huge quantity of electronic waste (e-waste) being imported and dumped into the country was posing a serious threat to the environment. Hence the CBEC had told senior customs authorities across the country to avoid. ) The Assessee imported Old Machines. These goods inspected by Chartered Engineer were Correct in quantity and description but some difference on account of "value" as they were old. Held That: Consignment reached the port on 06.09.11, till that date no show cause notice had been issued, thus it is not permissible to treat the imported goods as restricted goods. Department is running contrary to Section 17 which entitles importer to examine, assess and clear goods without undue delay. Section 18 enables provisional assessment pending production of documents. In the present case, all the documents have been furnished that are necessary for processing and assessing the Bill of Entry and ordering the release of goods of the petitioners. Decided in favour of assessee.

Case 3:
COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS, VISHAKHAPATNAM VERSUS M/S AGGARWAL INDUSTRIES LTD. - Supreme Court Case Relates to: Provisional assessment - Demand - Rule 10A of the Customs Valuation (Determination of Price of Imported Goods) Rules, 1988 It was argued that the contemporary invoices clearly indicated that at the time of actual shipment of the goods, the international market price was much higher and therefore, the transaction value declared by the respondent could not be accepted in terms of Rule 4 of CVR 1988. Held that: A mere suspicion upon the correctness of the invoice produced by an importer is not sufficient to reject it as evidence of the value of imported goods. According to Section 14(1), the assessment of duty is to be made on the value of the goods. It is true that the commodity involved had volatile fluctuations in its price in the international market but having delayed the shipment, the supplier did not increase the price of the commodity even after the increase in its price in the international market. No other reason has been ascribed to reject the transaction value under Rule 4(1) except the drastic increase in price of the commodity in the international market and the difference in price in the invoices in relation to the goods imported under contracts entered by the respondents in the month of August 2001. Decided in favor of the assessee.