SSI exemption and brand name restrictions applied only prospectively after the 1-3-94 amendment to the notification.

SSI exemption under Notification No. 1/93-C.E. was available for the pre-1-3-94 period because the restriction then applied only where the manufacturer affixed goods with another person's brand name or trade name. Notification No. 59/94-C.E. broadened that condition to goods merely bearing another person's brand name, but the amendment operated only from 1-3-94 and could not govern an earlier period. On the facts noted, the goods were not shown to have been branded by the manufacturer in the manner required by the pre-amendment notification, so the earlier Tribunal view was correctly applied and the price list was rightly approved for that period.

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Issues: Whether the respondent was entitled to SSI exemption for clearances made under a price list effective from 4-2-94, where the goods bore another person's brand name but the brand name was not affixed by the manufacturer, and whether the amended language introduced by Notification No. 59/94-C.E. could govern a period prior to its commencement.

Analysis: For the period prior to 1-3-94, the operative condition in Notification No. 1/93-C.E. denied SSI exemption only where the manufacturer affixed the specified goods with the brand name or trade name of another person who was not eligible for the exemption. The later amendment by Notification No. 59/94-C.E. substituted that language with a broader condition covering goods merely bearing another person's brand name or trade name, but that amended position applied only from 1-3-94. The price list in question related to a period before that amendment, and the goods were not shown to have been branded by the manufacturer himself in the manner required by the pre-amendment notification. The earlier Tribunal ruling was therefore correctly applied to that period.

Conclusion: The price list was rightly approved for the pre-amendment period, and the Revenue's challenge failed.

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