Carestream Health India Pvt. Ltd. Vs Commissioner of Customs (Supreme Court of India)
Summary: The Supreme Court considered whether Carestream Health India Pvt. Ltd.’s imported ‘Dryview 6850 Laser Imagers W/3D’ were classifiable under CTH 9018 90 19 as ‘Other diagnostic instruments and apparatus’ or under residuary CTH 9033 00 00 as accessories of machines, appliances, instruments or apparatus of Chapter 90. The appellant had imported the laser imagers from China under Bill of Entry dated 02.04.2013 and claimed classification under CTH 9018 90 19. The Customs authorities re-classified them under CTH 9033 00 00, resulting in a 2.5% differential duty demand of ₹5,21,616/-. The Supreme Court held that the laser imager was not a diagnostic apparatus in its own right because it had no independent diagnostic capability and functioned as an accessory by printing diagnostic data received from medical equipment onto film. The Court further held that the imagers were compatible with machines falling under different tariff headings, including CTH 9018 and CTH 9022. Consequently, Rule 2(b) of Chapter 90 could not apply, as that rule concerns accessories suitable for use solely or principally with a particular kind of machine or machines under the same tariff heading. Rule 2(c) therefore applied, requiring classification under residuary CTH 9033 00 00. The appeal was accordingly dismissed and pending applications were disposed of.
