Declared waste paper remained lawful import where documentary evidence showed no prohibited waste or proven misdeclaration.

Predominantly declared waste paper supported by pre-shipment inspection certificates and chemical analysis reports was not shown to be municipal, medical, hazardous or otherwise prohibited waste. Traces of plastic, cans and cloth pieces were found, but no quantitative assessment established that these foreign materials displaced the character of the consignments, and there was no clinching evidence to reject the approved documents or prove deliberate misdeclaration. On that basis, confiscation and consequential penalty were held unsustainable, the re-export direction was set aside, and clearance for home consumption was ordered.

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Issues: Whether the imported waste paper was liable to confiscation and whether consequential penalty was imposable.

Analysis: The imported consignments were examined on the basis of traces of plastic, cans, cloth pieces and other foreign material, but no quantitative assessment of such traces was made and the goods were found to be predominantly waste paper. The pre-shipment inspection certificates and chemical analysis reports showed that the consignments were waste paper, contained no putrefiable organic matter, and did not contain municipal solid waste, medical waste or hazardous waste beyond a negligible non-recyclable fraction. The record did not establish that the goods were municipal waste within the meaning of the tariff note, nor was there clinching evidence to discard the approved inspection certificates. In the absence of clear evidence of misdeclaration or of applicability of the hazardous-waste rules, confiscation and penalty could not be sustained.

Conclusion: The goods were not liable to confiscation and the penalty was not sustainable.

Final Conclusion: The import of predominantly waste paper was held to be lawful, the re-export direction was set aside, and the goods were ordered to be cleared for home consumption with consequential relief.

Ratio Decidendi: Where imported goods are shown by reliable documentary evidence to be predominantly the declared recyclable waste and the revenue fails to prove that they are prohibited waste or that there was deliberate misdeclaration, confiscation and penalty cannot be sustained.

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