Ayurvedic product classification turns on therapeutic use, not beautification, for tariff treatment as medicaments.

Products prepared from ingredients found in Ayurvedic texts, manufactured under a drug licence and used for treatment of skin ailments, are classified as Ayurvedic medicaments rather than cosmetics when their therapeutic, prophylactic and curative character is established. On that basis, Kaveri Fairness Milk Cream, Pankaja Kasthuri and Amrutha Kasthuri were treated as medicaments under Tariff Heading 3003.30/3003.39, and not as cosmetics under Tariff Heading 3304.00. The analysis distinguished goods intended for treatment from products meant for beautification and relied on settled classification principles for Ayurvedic formulations.

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Issues: Whether the products Kaveri Fairness Milk Cream, Pankaja Kasthuri and Amrutha Kasthuri were classifiable as cosmetics under Tariff Heading 3304.00 or as Ayurvedic medicaments under Tariff Heading 3003.30/3003.39.

Analysis: The products were manufactured with ingredients stated in Ayurvedic texts, the manufacturers held a drug licence, and the record showed that the items were used for treatment of skin ailments and not for beautification. The products had therapeutic, prophylactic and curative use, which brought the case within the settled principle that an Ayurvedic formulation made in accordance with authoritative texts and licensed as a drug is to be treated as a medicament. The cited authorities on similar products supported the same classification approach and distinguished the goods from cosmetics.

Conclusion: The products were not cosmetics and were correctly classifiable as Ayurvedic medicaments under Tariff Heading 3003.30.

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