 bill no 38 of 1988 the customs (amendment) bill, 1988 a bill further to amend the customs act, 1962be it enacted by parliam ent in the t hirty-ninth y ear of the republic of india as fouows:—1 (1) this a ct m ay be called the customs (am endment) act, 1988 short title and com -(2) it shall come into force on such date as the central g overnm ent 5 may, by notification in the official gazette, appoint52 of 1962 2 in  section 14 of the customs act, 1962 (hereinafter referred to as am endthe principal a ct),—  m ent ofsection(o) in sub-section (1),—(i) in clause (a), thie brackets and letter " (a )" shall be jq om itted;(ii) clause (b) shall be om itted;(b) after sub-section (1), the following sub-section shall b» inserted, nam ely:—" (la ) subject to the provisions of sub-section (1), the price referred to in th at sub-section in respect of im ported goods shall be determ ined in accordance w ith the rules m ade in this behalf" ;(c) in sub-section (2 ), after the words, brackets and figure "in 5 sub-section ( i ) ", the words, brackets, figure and letter "or sub-section ( m ) " shall be inserted3 in section 156 of th e principal act, in sub-section (2), for clause (a ), th e follow ing clause shall be substituted, nam ely: —amend­ment of section 156" (a) the m anner of determ ining the price of im ported goods 10 vmder sub-section (la) of section 14;" statement of objects and reasonsthe customs act, 1962 (52 of 1962) deals w ith the law  relating to levy of duties of customs section 14 thereof provides for the valuation of goods for the purposes of assessm ent of duties of customs chargeable on goods by reference to their yalue a rticle v ii of the g eneral a gree­m ent on trade and tariff (g a tt), to which india is a contracting party, lays down general principles on custom s valuation the provisions of the said section 14 are, therefore, based on a rticle v ii of gatt2 d uring the tokyo round of m ulti-lateral trade negotiations under thie gatt (1973—1979), an a greem ent on im plem entation of a rticle vii of the gatt, also know n as gatt code of valuation, was adopted this a greem ent lays down elaborate rules to provide for greater uni­form ity and certainty in the application of a rticle v ii of the gatt for determ ining the value of im ported goods as india is a contracting party to this a greem ent also, we are required to im plem ent the said gatt code of valuation3 the purpose of the bill is, therefore, to suitably amend section 14 of the customs act so as to enable the c entral governm ent to fram e rules on the basis of gatt code of v aluation for the determ ination of the price of im ported goods4 the bill seeks to achieve the above objectn e w  d e l h i;the 24th march, 1988 a jit  kumar panjaclause 2 of the bill seeks to insert a new  sub-section (la ) in section14 of the customs act, 1962, providing that, subject to the provisions of sub-section (1) of th at section, the price of im ported goods shall be determ ined in accordance w ith the rules m ade in this behalf accord­ingly, clause 3 of the bill seeks to substitute clause (a) of sub-section (2) of section 156 of the customs act so as to em pow er the c entral g overn­m ent to make rules to provide for th e m aim er of determ ining the price of im ported goods under the said sub-section (la ) of section 14 of the customs act2 the m atters w ith respect to w hich rules m ay be m ade are m atters of procedure and detail and it m ay not be practicable to provide them  in the bill3 the delegation of legislative power is, therefore^ of a norm al character (52 of 1962)51 of 1975 14 (1) for the purposes of the customs tariff act, 1975, or any other law for the time being in force whereunder a duty of customs is chargeable on any goods by reference to their value, the value of such goods shall be deemed to be—valuation of goods for pur­poses of assess­ment(a) the price at which such or like goods are ordinarily sold, or offered for sale, for delivery at the time and place of importation or exportation, as the case may be, in the course of international trade, where the seller and the buyer have no interest in the busi­ness of each other and the price is the sole consideration for the sale or offer for sale:provided that such price shall be calculated with reference to the rate of exchange as in force on the date on which a bill of entry is presented under section 46, or a shipping bill or bill of export, as the case may be, is presented under section 50;(b) where such price is not ascertainable, the nearest ascertain­able equivalent thereof determined in accordance with the rules made in this behalf156 (i)                                                                                                ♦                                                        ♦                                                                    ♦general power to make rules(2) in particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely: —(a) the manner of determining the nearest ascertainable equiva­lent of the normal price of any goods; a billfu rth er to am end the customs act, 1962(shri a jit panja, minister oj state in the department of revenue in the ministry of finance)