Newsprint exemption under excise notification applies on notified supply conditions, without proving actual newspaper use.

Notification No. 23/98-CE treated paper as exempt newsprint where it was intended for printing newspapers, manufactured by a mill specified under the Newsprint Control Order, 1962, and supplied against a purchase order from a newspaper registered under the Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867. The record showed that the supplier was a notified newsprint mill and the buyers held newspaper registration certificates. The notification did not require proof of actual use in printing newspapers, and a broader end-use condition could not be imported from other enactments. On that construction, the supply qualified as newsprint and excise duty was not payable.

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Issues: Whether the newsprint supplied by the respondent satisfied the definition of "newsprint" under Notification No. 23/98-CE dated 01/08/1998 so as to remain exempt from excise duty.

Analysis: The relevant notification defined newsprint as paper intended for printing newspapers, manufactured by a manufacturer specified under the Newsprint Control Order, 1962, and supplied against a purchase order placed by a newspaper registered under the Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867. The record showed that the respondent's unit had been notified as a mill producing newsprint, and the buyers produced registration certificates showing them as newspapers. The notification did not require proof that the supplied paper was actually used for printing newspapers. For central excise purposes, the definition in the notification governed, and it was not appropriate to import a wider end-use requirement from other enactments.

Conclusion: The supply satisfied the notification conditions and was correctly treated as newsprint; the demand of duty was unsustainable and the revenue's appeal failed.

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