Classification of lichi juice upheld where laboratory report supported declared description and denial of exemption was unsustainable.

Imported goods declared as lichi juice were supported by an unchallenged Regional Food Laboratory report confirming that description. The department relied on bottle ingredients and an alleged market description, but produced no evidence that the goods were sold as anything other than fruit juice. On that basis, the reclassification was found unsustainable, and the assessee's classification together with the claimed exemption benefit was upheld; the denial of Notification No. 5/97 benefit was set aside.

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Issues: Whether the imported goods were correctly classified as lichi juice and whether the benefit of Notification No. 5/97 dated 10.08.1999 was wrongly denied on the basis of bottle contents and market description.

Analysis: The goods were declared as lichi juice, and the Regional Food Laboratory reported them to be lichi juice. The department relied on the ingredients declared on the bottles and the alleged market description, but it produced no evidence that the goods were sold as anything other than fruit juice. The test report was not challenged. In these circumstances, the appellate finding that ignored the laboratory report and sustained the reclassification was unsustainable.

Conclusion: The classification adopted by the assessee and the exemption claimed were upheld, and the denial of benefit was set aside.

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