Strict construction of exemption notifications bars using tariff rules to treat fax machine parts as exempt equipment.

Imported fax machine parts and sub-assemblies brought in knocked-down condition were held outside Notification No. 59/88-Cus. because the exemption referred only to facsimile equipment in its plain terms. Although such goods could be classifiable with fax machines under Rule 1 and Section Note 2 of Section XVI, that classification did not convert components into the complete machine. Rule 2(a) could not be used to enlarge an exemption notification beyond its wording, so the goods remained parts and were not covered by the notification.

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Issues: Whether imported fax machine parts and components, brought in knocked down condition, were eligible for exemption under Notification No. 59/88-Cus., and whether the interpretative rules for tariff classification could be used to extend that exemption to such goods.

Analysis: The exemption notification specifically referred to facsimile equipment, and its scope had to be gathered from its plain language. The goods imported were found to be individual parts and sub-assemblies packed part-wise, not machine-wise, and were intended to be assembled into fax machines after import. For tariff classification, Rule 1 and Section Note 2 of Section XVI governed the position, and parts suitable solely for use with fax machines could be classified with that machine. But classification with the machine did not convert the parts into the machine itself. Rule 2(a) could not be invoked to enlarge the scope of an exemption notification, because interpretative rules are primarily meant for classification and not for extending exemption beyond the words used. The goods therefore remained components and parts, not fax machines as described in the notification.

Conclusion: The imported goods were not entitled to the benefit of Notification No. 59/88-Cus.; the exemption was rightly denied.

Final Conclusion: The appeals failed because the notification could not be stretched to cover components and sub-assemblies imported for later assembly into fax machines, even though such goods were classifiable with the machine for tariff purposes.

Ratio Decidendi: An exemption notification must be construed strictly on its own terms, and tariff interpretative rules cannot be used to enlarge its scope so as to treat imported parts as the complete article unless the notification expressly covers them.

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