Anti-dumping duty on stainless steel coils turns on product coverage and tolerance limits, with confiscation and penalties failing too.

The customs notifications on anti-dumping duty were construed by reference to their scope and the tolerance clause. A (+) 30 mm tolerance was treated as applying only where consignments were actually within the 1250 mm ceiling but were declared marginally above it, to prevent circumvention of the levy. Goods found to be more than 1250 mm wide were held to fall outside the notified product coverage, so anti-dumping duty was not payable. As duty was not attracted, the alleged misdeclaration could not sustain confiscation, redemption fine or penalties, which were set aside.

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Issues: Whether anti-dumping duty under the relevant customs notifications applied to stainless steel cold rolled coils of width above 1250 mm, and whether confiscation, redemption fine and penalty could be sustained on the alleged misdeclaration.

Analysis: The applicable notifications were construed on the basis of their scope and the purpose of the tolerance clause. The tolerance of (+) 30 mm was held to operate for consignments whose actual width was below the prescribed ceiling but were declared marginally above it, so as to prevent circumvention of the levy. Where the goods were actually found to be more than 1250 mm wide, they were held to fall outside the notified product coverage and beyond the tolerance limit. Since the goods were not liable to anti-dumping duty, the alleged misdeclaration did not sustain the demand, and the consequential confiscation, redemption fine and penalties also could not survive.

Conclusion: Anti-dumping duty was held not payable on the imported goods, and the confiscation, redemption fine and penalties were set aside in favour of the assessee.

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