Case Law Details
Danisco (India) Pvt Ltd Vs Commissioner of Customs (Import) (CESTAT Mumbai)
CESTAT Mumbai held that no amount of argument or depth of research can move ‘probiotics’ or, for that matter, ‘cultures of micro-organisms (excluding yeast)’ to chapter 21 of First Schedule to Customs Tariff Act, 1975 as proposed by the show cause notices.
Facts- The appellant claims that they had been importing ‘probotic culture’, which are freeze-tried cultures of bacterial strain having probiotic properties, since 2015 by declaring the same classification and availing the benefit of the said notifications and that the imported goods are further processed by manufacturers of probiotic food products. In these appeals, it is their contention that the classification adopted by the adjudication authority is inappropriate as the impugned goods do not match the description corresponding to tariff item 2106 9099 of First Schedule to Customs Tariff Act, 1975. Though the proximate grievance of the appellant is the recovery of differential duty arising from denial of concessional rate extended by the notifications claimed by them, the manner in which the customs authorities have approached the dispute warrants narration of its contours before the rival submissions are taken up for evaluation.
Conclusion- No amount of argument or depth of research can move ‘probiotics’ or, for that matter, ‘cultures of micro-organisms (excluding yeast)’ to chapter 21 as proposed by the show cause notices.
All of this commences with the supposition that the impugned goods are ‘food preparations’ for which reliance has been placed on the elements elaborated in the description corresponding to subheading 3002 06 in Explanatory Notes to Harmonized System of Nomenclature (HSN) and the common ground of administration other than intravenously. Thereafter, conformity with that pertaining to heading 2106 in Explanatory Notes to Harmonized System of Nomenclature (HSN) was rendered. However, this approach may be validated only upon exclusion of the impugned goods from chapter 30 of First Schedule to Customs Tariff Act, 1975 and is tantamount to comparison of two rival headings for the more appropriate fitment which is permissible only after fulfilment of fitment of the description within the heading sought to be imposed by customs authorities, viz., heading 2106 of First Schedule to Customs Tariff Act, 1975 sans reference to notes in the chapter containing the declared classification.
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