Strict proof for exemption claims on imported goods: later evidence could not establish eligibility for safeguard duty relief.

A claimant to exemption must strictly prove that imported goods fall within the exempted description. Here, the contemporaneous import documents described the goods only as aluminium foil, while no representative sample was drawn at clearance to support a finding that they were colour coated aluminium foil. A later sample and the overseas supplier's certificate were insufficient, especially since the certificate was not shown to have been properly brought on record and did not clearly identify the goods. On that basis, the burden of proving eligibility was not discharged, and the exemption from safeguard duty was unavailable.

---

---

Issues: Whether the appellant established that the imported goods were colour coated aluminium foil so as to qualify for exemption from safeguard duty under Notification No. 71/2009-Cus.

Analysis: The exemption notification granted relief only to colour coated aluminium foil with retrospective effect, but the contemporaneous import documents described the goods merely as aluminium foil. No representative sample was drawn at the time of clearance, and the sample later produced could not by itself link the imported goods to the exempted description. The certificate from the overseas supplier was not shown to have been produced before the original authority in compliance with the procedural requirements for additional evidence, and its contents were also not sufficiently clear to identify the goods as colour coated aluminium foil. On the record, the appellant failed to discharge the burden of proving eligibility to the exemption.

Conclusion: The appellant was not entitled to the benefit of the exemption notification.

Final Conclusion: The refusal of exemption was upheld and the duty demand sustained because the imported goods were not proved to be the exempted variety.

Ratio Decidendi: A claimant to exemption must strictly establish, by cogent contemporaneous evidence, that the imported goods fall within the exempted description, and later-produced evidence cannot be relied upon unless properly brought on record in accordance with the procedural rules.

---