In re Switz Foods Pvt Ltd. (GST AAR West Bengal)
The Application is admitted for the products that belong to the category of baked food preparations made of flour and contain chicken and mentioned under SI Nos 1 to 5 and 11 to 25 of the Table in para 1.5 above.
Chicken meat is used as a filling in most of the above products where bread or baked flour is used as the base. The baked product (sandwich, puff, patty, burger etc.) as distinct food preparations will survive even if the chicken meat is excluded from the filling. They are, therefore, not food preparations based on chicken meat. Such bakers’ wares cannot, therefore, be classified under HSN 1601.
A few of the Applicant’s products would not survive as food preparation if the chicken meat were removed. Such products may be classified under HSN 1601, provided they contain more than 20% by weight of meat.
FULL TEXT OF ORDER OF AUTHORITY OF ADVANCE RULING, WEST BENGAL
1. Admissibility of the Application
1.1 The Applicant is stated to be a manufacturer of confectionery products like cakes, rusks etc. Some of its products contain portions of cooked chicken, fish or egg. It seeks a ruling on whether the products listed in para 2 of Annexure B (the Table of para 1.5 below) are classifiable under HSN 1601. An advance ruling is admissible on the classification of any goods under section 97(2)(a) of the GST Act.
1.2 The Applicant declares that the issue raised in the application is not pending nor decided in any proceedings under any provisions of the GST Act. The officer concerned from the revenue has not objected to the admissibility of the Application.
1.3 However, the West Bengal Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling (hereinafter the WBAAAR), while disposing the appeal against the ruling pronounced by this Authority in the matter of Akansha Hair & Skin Care Herbal Unit Pvt Ltd (Appeal Case No. 2/WBAAAR/Appeal/2018 dated 01/08/2018), cautioned this Authority against accepting a single application for classification of multiple products, where such products could not be clubbed together into a single category.
1.4 Section 97(2)(a) of the GST Act allows the filing of an application seeking advance ruling on the classification of any goods or services. In Akansha Hair & Skin Care Herbal Unit Pvt Ltd (supra), the Id WBAAAR does not deny the applicant the right to seek an advance ruling on multiple products. It merely limits the scope of the ruling to a bundle of goods or services that belong to a single category, displaying common attributes.
1.5 Following the instruction of the Id WBAAAR as discussed above, this Authority examines the products of the Applicant in terms of their common characteristics. In Table below the products are analysed in terms of the cereal component, non-vegetarian component and the method of cooking. These parameters are chosen keeping in mind the categories in which food preparations are classified in the First Schedule of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 (hereinafter the Tariff Act), which is followed in the GST Act for the purpose of classification.
Table
