Tariff classification and import licence cover for wiper motors were sustained against recharacterisation and policy-based challenge.

Imported goods described in invoices and manufacturer literature as wiper motors were treated as electric motors under Heading 85.01, because the record did not support recharacterisation as complete wiper systems or assemblies. The Department's classification was upheld. The second export house additional licence also could not cover the import, because the first licence stood in another firm's name and the relevant firm commitment arose after the policy amendment excluding Appendix 30 items. The later licence did not cure that defect, and the import was held to be outside the permissible licence cover.

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Issues: (i) Whether the imported wiper motors were classifiable as electric motors under Heading 85.01 or as wiper systems / wiper assemblies under a different heading; (ii) Whether the second export house additional licence could validly cover the import in view of the policy amendment and the restrictions relating to Appendix 30 items.

Issue (i): Whether the imported wiper motors were classifiable as electric motors under Heading 85.01 or as wiper systems / wiper assemblies under a different heading.

Analysis: The goods were described throughout the import documents, invoice and manufacturer's literature as wiper motors. The attempt to recharacterise them as a complete wiper system was not supported by the record. The relevant explanatory notes showed that electric motors of varied types, including those with gears or gear boxes, fell within the heading relied upon by the Department. The goods did not establish a separate identity outside the description of wiper motors so as to take them out of the motor heading.

Conclusion: The classification adopted by the Department was upheld against the assessee.

Issue (ii): Whether the second export house additional licence could validly cover the import in view of the policy amendment and the restrictions relating to Appendix 30 items.

Analysis: The first licence stood in the name of another firm and the firm commitment for import was made after the policy amendment which disallowed the relevant Appendix 30 items. The later licence could not cure this defect because the relevant policy provision permitted import only within the limits of the licence structure and excluded the prohibited items. The principle of special description did not assist the assessee because the exclusion operated expressly under the policy scheme.

Conclusion: The second licence was held not to be valid for covering the impugned import, and the Department's view was sustained.

Final Conclusion: The import was held to be improperly covered by the licences relied on by the assessee, and the departmental order was sustained in full.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the documentary description and trade identity of imported goods show them to fall within a tariff heading, a contrary recharacterisation unsupported by the record will not prevail; similarly, an import licence cannot validate a post-amendment import of items expressly excluded by the governing policy.

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