Flooring classification under exemption notification sustained for cement concrete tiles, securing the lower rate of duty.

Pre-polished cement concrete tiles falling under Heading 68.07 were treated as floorings, not floor coverings, for the relevant exemption notification. The Tribunal relied on an earlier decision concerning the same product and assessee under the predecessor notification, holding that the prior characterisation remained applicable because the product description and the statutory distinction had not materially changed. On that basis, the lower rate of duty applied and the duty demand was held unsustainable.

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Issues: Whether the goods, namely pre-polished cement concrete tiles falling under Heading 68.07, were to be treated as floor coverings under the relevant notification or as floorings entitled to the lower rate of duty.

Analysis: The goods were undisputedly classifiable under Heading 68.07. The dispute turned on the correct entry in Notification No. 36/94-CE dated 1.3.1994. The Tribunal noted that an earlier decision concerning the same assessee, under the predecessor Notification No. 59/90-CE dated 20.3.1990, had held the same product to be floorings and not floor coverings. That decision was treated as directly applicable to the present facts, since the product description and the statutory distinction between floor coverings and other goods falling under Heading 68.07 were materially the same.

Conclusion: The goods were held to be floorings and not floor coverings, and the assessee was entitled to the lower rate of duty.

Final Conclusion: The duty demand was unsustainable and the assessee succeeded in the appeal.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the same product has already been judicially characterised as a flooring and not a floor covering, that classification governs the corresponding exemption notification unless the later notification materially changes the statutory description.

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