In Brief
SAIL imported equipment and related services under turnkey contracts with foreign consortia for its Durgapur plant modernization. The customs authority added design, engineering, and supervision charges to the assessed value, treating them as inseparable from equipment under Rule 9(1)(e) of the Customs Valuation Rules. The Supreme Court held that post-importation services and charges cannot be included in assessable value merely because they are part of the same contract or labeled a turnkey project. Rule 9(1)(e) applies only where import of equipment is genuinely conditional upon obtaining specified services. Without explicit contractual evidence of such binding condition, post-importation services are excluded per the Interpretative Note to Rule 4. The appeal was dismissed and the Tribunal's order favoring SAIL upheld.
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