In re QIAGEN India Pvt. Ltd. (CAAR Delhi)
The Customs Authority for Advance Rulings (CAAR), Delhi, delivered a ruling in the matter of M/s QIAGEN India Pvt. Ltd. concerning the customs classification of their imported product, Nuclease-Free Water. The ruling was sought to determine whether the product is correctly classifiable under Customs Tariff Heading (CTH) 28539010 as “Distilled or conductivity water and water of similar purity.”
Background and Applicant’s Submission
QIAGEN India Pvt. Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of QIAGEN GmbH, Germany, is engaged in the business of importing and supplying diagnostic reagents, kits, and instruments for medical testing and research. The company sought an Advance Ruling on the classification of its imported product, Nuclease-Free Water.
The applicant described Nuclease-Free Water as pure, quality-tested, DNase, RNase, and nuclease free, deionized water, prepared without chemical additives. It is suitable for all experiments, especially molecular biology applications, requiring water of high purity.
QIAGEN contended that the product is water of similar purity to distilled water and, therefore, should be classified under CTH 28539010 (“Distilled or conductivity water and water of similar purity”), which falls under the broader CTH 2853 for “Other inorganic compounds (including distilled or conductivity water and water of similar purity).” The applicable Basic Customs Duty (BCD) under this heading is 7.5%.
