Copper exemption for brass goods fails when evidence shows the products are brass, not copper, under the notification.

Brass sheets and circles were held not to be copper products for the purpose of Notification No. 8/98-C.E., because brass, though an alloy of copper, is a distinct product from copper. On the evidence, the goods manufactured were brass and not copper, and the notification covered only trimmed and untrimmed sheets and circles of copper. The exemption was therefore admissible, and the Revenue's challenge to the lower appellate authority's classification and exemption finding failed.

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Issues: Whether brass sheets and circles manufactured by the respondents were classifiable as copper products for the purpose of exemption under Notification No. 8/98-C.E., and whether the exemption was admissible.

Analysis: The distinction between copper and brass was accepted. Brass, though an alloy of copper, was treated as a different product from copper. The finding that the respondents manufactured brass and not copper remained unchallenged in substance. As the notification granted exemption only to trimmed and untrimmed sheets and circles of copper, the goods manufactured by the respondents did not fall within the excluded category.

Conclusion: The exemption under Notification No. 8/98-C.E. was admissible to the respondents, and the Revenue's challenge failed.

Final Conclusion: The classification and exemption granted by the lower appellate authority were sustained, and the Revenue's appeal did not succeed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an exemption notification applies only to copper, goods found on evidence to be brass cannot be denied the benefit on the footing that brass is merely an alloy of copper.

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