Accessory status for medical equipment upheld where stents were essential to endoscopic therapeutic use and exemption applied.

Endoscope stents were treated as accessories of endoscopes for exemption under Sl. No. 348B of Notification No. 17/2001-Cus because they function as an adjunct or accompaniment to the main equipment and are necessary for its convenient and effective use. The relevant test was not permanent attachment or joint import, but whether the article enhances the use of the equipment. Since the materials showed that stents are deployed through the biopsy channel for therapeutic endoscopic procedures and are essential to such treatment, their separate import did not matter. The stents were therefore held eligible for exemption as accessories of endoscopes.

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Issues: Whether endoscope stents are accessories of endoscopes and therefore eligible for exemption under Sl. No. 348B of Notification No. 17/2001-Cus.

Analysis: The notification granted exemption to accessories of the specified medical equipment. The evidence on record showed that endoscopes are used not only for diagnosis but also for therapeutic procedures, and that stents are deployed through the biopsy channel for such treatment. The relevant test is whether the goods are an adjunct or accompaniment, or an addition for the convenient use of the main equipment. On that basis, the fact that the stents are not permanently attached to the endoscope or may be imported separately was held to be irrelevant. The materials relied on established that stents are essential for endoscopic treatment and enhance the effective use of the equipment.

Conclusion: The stents were held to be accessories of endoscopes and entitled to exemption under Sl. No. 348B of Notification No. 17/2001-Cus.

Ratio Decidendi: An article qualifies as an accessory when it serves as an adjunct or accompaniment to the main equipment and is necessary for its convenient and effective use, including therapeutic use, even if it is not permanently attached or imported together with the main equipment.

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