Laboratory cooling equipment qualified for concessional duty because the notification excluded appliances, not equipment using refrigeration principles.

Laboratory equipment fitted with cooling or refrigeration systems was not excluded from concessional treatment under serial No. 3 of Notification No. 155/86-C.E. merely because it operated on refrigeration or air-conditioning principles. The exclusion applied to refrigerating and air-conditioning appliances, not to laboratory or blood-bank equipment used for testing, preservation, incubation, environmental control, or sample separation. On that distinction, items such as incubators, cabinets, baths, seed germinators, environmental chambers, and cooling centrifuges were treated as eligible for the notification benefit, following earlier Tribunal authority. The duty demand and penalties were set aside.

---

---

Issues: Whether laboratory equipment fitted with cooling or refrigeration systems, including cooling centrifuges, was excluded from the concessional benefit under serial No. 3 of Notification No. 155/86-C.E. dated 01-03-1986 as refrigerating and air-conditioning machinery.

Analysis: The disputed goods were used in laboratories and blood banks for testing, preservation, incubation, environmental control, and separation of samples. The exclusion in the notification applied to refrigerating and air-conditioning appliances, not to equipment which merely worked on the principles of refrigeration or air-conditioning. On that basis, items such as incubators, cabinets, baths, seed germinators, environmental chambers, and cooling centrifuges were treated as eligible for the notification benefit, following earlier Tribunal authority applying the same distinction.

Conclusion: The goods were held eligible for the concessional rate under serial No. 3 of Notification No. 155/86-C.E. dated 01-03-1986, and the duty demand and penalties were set aside in favour of the assessee.

---