In re Dow Agro Sciences India Pvt. Ltd. (CAAR Mumbai)
Import of insecticides/pesticides is subject to the provisions of the Insecticides Act, 1968. As per provisions of section 9 of the said Act, no insecticides are allowed to be imported without a valid certificate of registration or an import permit issued by the Secretary, Central Insecticide Board & Registration Committee under his signature and office seal. Any person desiring to import or manufacture any insecticide may apply to the Registration Committee for the registration of such insecticide and there shall be a separate application for each such insecticide to obtain the certificate of registration. The applicant has submitted a copy of the registration dated 18.03.2016 granted to biological insecticide ‘Spinetoram 11.7% SC’ for import under section 9(3) of the Act, ibid. In view of the same, the fact that manufacturing process of `Spinetoram’ involves chemical/synthetic modification of fermented Saccharopolyspora Spinosa is not sufficient to reject the applicant’s assertion that it is a bio-pesticide.
Thus, the product in question is classifiable under chapter 38; is a bio-pesticide and is based on Saccharopolyspora spinosa.
FULL TEXT OF ORDER OF CUSTOMS AUTHORITY OF ADVANCE RULING, MUMBAI
M/s. Dow AgroSciences India Pvt Ltd, having IEC No. 0395045771 (the applicant, hereinafter), through their legal representative, Sri Ashwani Kumar Prabhakar, Advocate from the firm M/s. KPS Legal, filed an application for advance ruling dated 17.02.2020 before the Authority for Advance Ruling, New Delhi (AAR, in short). The said application was received in the registry/secretariat of the AAR on 17.02.2020 and a deficiency memo was issued on 03.03.2020 from F. No. AAR/44/CUS-I/04/2020. The applicant submitted their reply vide letter dated 16.03.2020, which was received by the AAR on 11.05.2020. Vide letter F. No. AAR/44/CUS-l/04/2020 dated 18.05.2020, the applicant was advised to file their rectified application in terms of the provisions of section 28-H (3) of the Customs Act, 1962. The applicant removed the defects and re-filed their application vide their communication dated 04.12.2020, which was received by the AAR of 10.12.2020.
2. Subsequent to the appointment of the Customs Authorities for Advance Rulings (CAAR, in short) at New Delhi and Mumbai w.e.f. 04.01.2021, the aforementioned application, based on the postal address of the applicant, has been transferred to the CAAR, Mumbai.
Accordingly, the said application has been treated as having been filed on 10.12.2020 and is being taken up for decision.
3. The issue for which the subject advance ruling has been sought can be summarized as follows: –
“Whether the product, ‘Spinetoram’ is eligible for exemption under the Entry No. 249 of the Notification No. 50/2017-Cus., dated 30.06.2017.”
4. Spinetoram is described by the applicant as a new chemical in the spinosyn class of insecticides developed by Dow AgroSciences LLC. It is derived from the fermentation of Saccharopolyspora spinosa. It is then chemically modified to create unique active ingredients. The active ingredient Spinetoram is composed of two chemical compounds Spinetoram-J and Spinetoram-L. Synthetic modification of these two ingredients confers improved insecticidal activity and residuality to Spinetoram. The usage of Spinetoram, as submitted by the applicant, is summarised as under: –
