In-situ concrete shuttering panels qualify as aluminium structures, not moulds, where they support permanent construction and are reused.

Reusable aluminium panels assembled at construction sites to provide in-situ shuttering and support while concrete sets are classifiable as aluminium structures under Customs Tariff Item 76109010. The relevant HSN notes include aluminium structures comparable to scaffolding, shuttering and propping equipment. Their removal after the concrete becomes part of an immovable structure, followed by reuse, does not make them moulds. Mould classification applies where goods produce separate finished concrete articles for subsequent use. Accordingly, the panels fall outside the mould heading and are treated as aluminium structures.

---

---

Issues: Whether aluminium formwork structures used as in-situ shuttering and support for concrete construction are classifiable as aluminium structures under Customs Tariff Item 76109010 or as moulds under Customs Tariff Item 84806000.

Analysis: The HSN explanatory notes applicable to heading 7610 encompass aluminium structures comparable to equipment for scaffolding, shuttering, propping or pit-propping. The imported custom-designed aluminium panels were assembled at the construction site to support concrete while it set in situ; the completed immovable structure remained in place and only the panels were removed for reuse. Such use differs from moulds that produce separate finished articles of concrete for subsequent use. As the goods were not moulds, their exclusion from heading 7610 did not apply.

Conclusion: The goods are classifiable under Customs Tariff Item 76109010, and not under Customs Tariff Item 84806000, in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: Reusable aluminium panels functioning as in-situ shuttering and support for concrete structures, rather than producing separate moulded end-products, are aluminium structures and not moulds for tariff-classification purposes.

---