Life-saving equipment exemption for scalp vein sets interpreted consistently with prior rulings and identical wording

Scalp Vein Sets (winged infusion sets) were discussed as potentially falling within the customs exemption for specified life-saving equipment under Notification No. 208-Customs dated 22-9-1984. The analysis notes that the notification covered intravenous cannulae and tubing for long-term use, that the same goods had already been treated as covered under the corresponding Open General Licence entry, and that earlier Tribunal decisions had accepted the importers' claim on the basis of identical wording. On that reasoning, the goods were treated as life-saving equipment within the exemption, and the article stresses consistent construction of identically worded exemption entries.

---

---

Issues: Whether Scalp Vein Sets (winged infusion sets) were covered by the exemption for specified life-saving equipment under Notification No. 208-Customs dated 22-9-1984.

Analysis: The notification granted full exemption to specified life-saving drugs and equipment, including an entry for intravenous cannulae and tubing for long-term use. The Tribunal noted that the same goods had already been treated as covered by the corresponding Open General Licence entry and that earlier Tribunal decisions had accepted the importers' claim on the basis of the identical wording. The goods were also recognised as life-saving equipment, and the Tribunal found no reason to depart from its earlier view.

Conclusion: The goods were held entitled to the customs exemption.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a product is life-saving equipment and falls within an identically worded exemption entry that has already been construed in the importer's favour, the exemption should be extended consistently with that construction.

---