Exemption notification amendment did not create fresh excise duty liability for 100% EOUs on Domestic Tariff Area clearances.

An amendment to the exemption notification for 100% Export Oriented Units, which only expanded the duty reference language, did not extinguish the separate exemption available under Notification No. 55/91-C.E. or create a fresh liability for Domestic Tariff Area clearances. The departmental circular adopting the contrary view was therefore unsustainable. On the same reasoning, the Revenue's rectification application was rejected, and the earlier order was maintained because the amended text did not clearly and expressly impose additional excise duty.

---

---

Issues: Whether the amendment to the exemption notification governing clearances by 100% Export Oriented Units created liability to pay additional excise duty on Domestic Tariff Area clearances, and whether the rectification application was sustainable.

Analysis: The amendment to Notification No. 8/97-C.E. only inserted the words "the aggregate of" and expanded the reference to duty by adding "or under any other law for the time being in force" after Section 3 of the Central Excise Act. Those changes did not dilute or override the separate exemption available under Notification No. 55/91-C.E. for manufacturers like the assessee. On the same reasoning, the departmental circular taking a contrary view could not be sustained.

Conclusion: The amendment did not create a fresh liability on 100% EOUs to pay additional excise duty, and the rectification application filed by the Revenue was rightly rejected.

Final Conclusion: The order under challenge was maintained, with the Revenue's attempt to reopen the earlier decision failing on merits.

Ratio Decidendi: An amendment to an exemption notification that merely enlarges the description of duty reference does not, by itself, curtail an existing exemption or create additional liability unless the amended text clearly and expressly does so.

---