Trade meaning controls customs exemption: stamping foils for footwear qualified as embellishments for concessional duty.

Unspecified terms in a customs exemption notification are to be construed in their trade sense, as understood by persons dealing with the goods. Applying that approach, stamping foils imported in running length form were treated as articles of embellishment for leather footwear, supported by the Export Promotion Council certificate and Import Trade Control Policy lists. The objection that the goods were not parts or components of footwear was rejected because the relevant inquiry was whether they were embellishments for footwear. The goods therefore fell within the entry for "buckles and other embellishments for foot wear" in Notification No. 29/79-Cus. and qualified for concessional customs duty.

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Issues: Whether stamping foils imported in running length form were covered by the entry "buckles and other embellishments for foot wear" in Notification No. 29/79-Cus. so as to qualify for concessional customs duty.

Analysis: In taxing statutes, words not defined in the enactment or exemption notification are to be construed in the sense in which persons dealing with them understand them in trade. The materials on record, including the Export Promotion Council certificate and the Import Trade Control Policy lists, showed that stamping foils were treated as articles of embellishment for leather footwear. The objection that the goods were imported in running length form was rejected because the relevant question was whether they were embellishments for footwear, not whether they were parts or components of footwear. The trade and governmental authorities both regarded stamping foils as embellishments.

Conclusion: Stamping foils were held to be embellishments for footwear and thus fell within the exemption entry, entitling the importer to concessional duty.

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