Manufacture test for cutting and repacking tissue paper supported waiver of pre-deposit and stay of recovery

Cutting, slitting and repacking duty-paid jumbo rolls of tissue paper was treated, for interim relief purposes, as not amounting to manufacture because no new commodity with a different name, character, end use or commercial identity emerged. Relying on the earlier Tribunal decision on the same activity, the applicants were found to have a strong prima facie case. They were therefore entitled to waiver of pre-deposit and stay of recovery of duty and penalties pending final disposal.

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Issues: Whether the applicants were entitled to waiver of pre-deposit and stay of recovery proceedings in respect of duty and penalties, in the light of the earlier Tribunal decision on whether cutting, slitting and repacking of duty-paid jumbo rolls of tissue paper amounts to manufacture.

Analysis: The application for stay turned on the existence of a strong prima facie case. The Tribunal noted that the very question whether the activity amounted to manufacture had already been decided by the Tribunal in an earlier case, where it was held that such cutting, slitting and repacking did not result in manufacture because no new commodity with a different name, character, end use or commercial identity emerged. In view of that prior decision, the applicants' challenge was treated as substantially supported at the interim stage.

Conclusion: The applicants made out a strong prima facie case and were entitled to waiver of pre-deposit and stay of recovery.

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