Burden on Revenue to disprove declared tariff classification of imported resin where no evidence showed processing with power.

Imported Oleo Pine Resin was classified under CTH 1301.90 because Revenue failed to prove that it had been processed abroad with the aid of power. The importer's declared classification was supported by a Sri Lanka Forest Department certificate describing the goods as a forest product produced without power, and Revenue brought no cogent contrary evidence or enquiry. In these circumstances, the burden to displace the declared tariff classification was not discharged, so the challenge to classification failed and the goods were held classifiable under CTH 1301.90.

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Issues: Whether the imported "Oleo Pine Resin" was classifiable under CTH 1301.90 as claimed by the importer or under CTH 1301.10 as alleged by Revenue on the footing that the goods had been processed with the aid of power, and whether denial of the claimed classification was justified in the absence of evidence from Revenue.

Analysis: The dispute turned on whether there was material to show that the goods were processed abroad with the aid of power. Revenue did not conduct an enquiry or bring any cogent evidence from the foreign source to establish such processing. The certificate issued by the Forest Department of Sri Lanka described the goods as a forest product produced without the aid of power, and that certificate could not be discarded without contrary evidence. In this situation, the burden to displace the declared classification was not discharged by Revenue, and the reliance placed on the Supreme Court decision supported the importer's stand.

Conclusion: The imported goods were held to fall under CTH 1301.90, and the appeal was allowed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where Revenue alleges that imported goods fall under a different tariff entry on the ground of processing with the aid of power, the burden lies on Revenue to establish that allegation by cogent evidence, and the declared classification cannot be rejected in the absence of such proof.

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