Customs classification of dialysis equipment under Entry 8421 rejected where common parlance could not override tariff text.

Entry 8421 of the Indian Customs Tariff covers filtering and purifying machinery for liquids, including dialysers and special filters, but it excludes artificial kidney apparatus. The Kerala HC held that hemodialysis and renal dialysis could not be brought within that entry by treating blood as a liquid under the common parlance approach, because those procedures are distinct from mere filtration or separation of liquids from colloidal particles. The CBEC circular based on that reasoning was therefore inconsistent with the tariff entry, and the classification adopted by the single Judge was upheld.

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Issues: Whether hemodialysis or renal dialysis equipment could be classified under Entry 8421 of the Indian Customs Tariff Act, 1975 on the basis of the common parlance approach and the CBEC circular could be sustained.

Analysis: Entry 8421 deals with filtering and purifying machinery for liquids and includes dialysers and special type filters through which liquids pass by diffusion, but it also excludes artificial kidney apparatus. The classification could not be expanded by treating blood as a liquid in general or by applying the common parlance principle so as to bring hemodialysis within the entry. Hemodialysis and renal dialysis are distinct processes and are not merely a matter of separation of liquids from colloidal particles. The circular proceeding on that basis was therefore inconsistent with the tariff entry.

Conclusion: The challenge to the circular failed, and the classification adopted by the single Judge was upheld, resulting in a decision in favour of the respondent and against the Department.

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