Handicraft export policy: unrebutted value-addition certificate and supporting expert reports can establish sandalwood carvings as handicrafts.

Under the import and export policy for handicrafts made of sandalwood, export depended on proof of hand-made character, artistic or decorative value, and a competent authority's certificate confirming the prescribed value addition. A duly issued and unrebutted certificate, supported by expert and inspection reports describing surface ornamentation and traditional hand carving, was sufficient to satisfy those policy requirements. A comment that the carving could have been deeper did not establish that the goods lacked artistic or decorative value, and the refusal to allow further expert evidence was treated as an incorrect approach. The goods were accordingly regarded as falling within the policy description of handicrafts.

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Issues: Whether sandalwood carvings sought to be exported satisfied the policy definition of handicrafts and the prescribed value-addition condition so as to permit export under the Import and Export Policy AM 1985-88.

Analysis: The relevant policy required, for export of handicrafts made of sandalwood, a certificate from the competent handicrafts authority showing minimum prescribed value addition, and the general note in Appendix 17 treated articles as handicrafts if, besides being made by hand, they had some artistic or decorative value. The required certificate was produced and was not challenged. The inspecting officers and the handicrafts authorities recorded that the logs bore surface ornamentation and were hand-crafted by traditional carvers of the Tirupathi or Kalahasti area. The adverse comment was only that the carving could have been deeper and that the work appeared to minimise labour. That observation did not amount to a finding that the goods lacked artistic or decorative value. The condition of value addition stood satisfied, and the opinions on the quality of finishing were not conclusive enough to displace the certificate and the policy criteria. In the circumstances, the refusal to permit the appellants to adduce further expert opinion was also found to be an incorrect approach.

Conclusion: The goods were held to fall within the policy description of handicrafts, and the appellants were entitled to the benefit of doubt.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the applicable export policy requires only hand-made articles with some artistic or decorative value, a duly issued and unrebutted value-addition certificate, together with supporting expert opinion showing hand-crafted work, is sufficient to treat the goods as handicrafts unless there is a clear finding that they lack such artistic or decorative value.

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