Classification cannot rest on an incapable laboratory report where departmental circulars recognise the testing limitation.

Where the revenue laboratory lacked the facility to test calcite powder, a CRCL report could not safely be relied on to reject the importer's declared classification. Departmental circulars showed that, for the relevant period, such samples had to be routed to designated laboratories and that laboratory testing capability for some items arose only after later upgradation. Applying its earlier decisions on identical facts, the Tribunal held that the unsupported report was not a valid basis for classifying the goods as precipitated calcium carbonate powder; the importer's classification as natural calcite powder was accepted.

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Issues: Whether the CRCL test report could be relied upon for classifying the imported goods when the laboratory did not have the requisite testing facilities, and consequently whether the goods were classifiable as natural calcite powder under CTH 25309030 or as precipitated calcium carbonate powder under CTH 28365000.

Analysis: The dispute turned on the evidentiary value of the CRCL, Kandla report. The record and the Board circulars showed that, for the relevant period, the concerned revenue laboratory did not have the facility to test calcite powder. The earlier circulars identified the goods for which testing had to be routed to designated outside laboratories, and the later circular clarified that the revenue laboratories had acquired facilities for some items only after upgradation. In the absence of the requisite facility, a test report from that laboratory could not form a safe basis for rejecting the importer's declared classification. The Tribunal followed its earlier decisions on identical facts and held that such an unsupported laboratory report could not be acted upon for classification.

Conclusion: The CRCL test report was not reliable for determining classification in the present case. The importer's classification claim succeeded and the revenue's classification under CTH 28365000 failed.

Ratio Decidendi: A laboratory test report cannot be the basis for deciding classification where the laboratory itself lacked the facility to conduct the relevant test, especially when binding departmental circulars recognize that limitation.

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