Technical customs classification must fairly assess expert evidence before rejecting it in favour of a fresh adjudication.

Technical customs classification under Heading 85.42 depended materially on expert opinion and HSN-based analysis. The record contained expert views that the imported item was not a hybrid integrated circuit and could fall within a micro module or micro assembly, yet the adjudicating authority rejected that evidence mainly on physical characteristics without seeking clarification or adequately addressing the contrary opinion. The analysis states that such rejection was not sustainable and that classification had to be reconsidered in fresh adjudication.

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Issues: Whether the imported goods were classifiable under Heading 85.42 as an electronic micro-assembly or hybrid integrated circuit, and whether the adjudicating authority was justified in rejecting the expert opinions obtained in the matter.

Analysis: The dispute turned on technical classification of the imported assembly under the Customs Tariff and the relevant HSN Explanatory Notes. The department itself had sought expert opinion and supplied the HSN extracts to the expert. The record contained opinions indicating that the item was not a hybrid integrated circuit and, in one clarification, that it could fall within micro module or micro assembly under Heading 85.42. The adjudicating authority rejected the expert view mainly on the basis that the components could be desoldered and that the item did not fit the described form of moulded modules, but did not seek clarification from the expert and did not adequately address the other expert opinion on record.

Conclusion: The rejection of the expert evidence was not sustainable, and the classification finding was set aside with a direction for fresh adjudication.

Ratio Decidendi: Where technical classification depends materially on expert opinion and HSN-based analysis, the adjudicating authority must fairly consider the expert evidence and, if necessary, seek clarification before rejecting it on its own view.

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