Order Date – 30 November 2023

Parties: Ajay Traders Vs C.C.-Mundra

Facts –

• The Appellant, Ajay Traders, filed bill of entry for clearance of stock lot of Jute Bags, the same was examined and the custom has enhanced the value in the bill of entry on the basis of data gathered from the website of Zuaba.

Issue –

• Whether value enhancement based on data gathered from the website of Zuaba is correct and legal?

Order –

• The Tribunal observed that that the authenticity of the platform of Zuaba has not been established or department has not made any effort to verify the authenticity of the same. it is not approved by any government agency and the same is a private platform. Therefore, the sole reliance made on the data appearing on Zuaba platform, is not correct and legal.
• Moreover, even from that data it does not appear that the goods imported by the appellant is identical to the goods described in the data of Zuaba platform. It is also clear that in the data of Zuaba the country of origin is Bangladesh, whereas, in the present case the goods were imported from Bangkok, for this reason also the data relied upon by the department is absolutely incorrect. 
• Since the data of Zuaba is not authentic, there is no any other evidence to doubt the value declared by the appellant. The department has not discharged the burden in rejecting the declared value. The appeal is allowed.