Exemption classification for brass strips turns on defined tariff scope, not incidental lead content or unsupported reclassification.

An exemption under Notification No. 46/85-Cus. applied to imported horological brass strips because the notification and chapter notes did not define leaded brass strips in a way that excluded goods with only incidental lead content. Mere presence of lead was held insufficient to reclassify the goods as leaded brass strips without clear legal or factual basis, especially where the customs authorities relied on presumption and prior imports had been accepted under the same description. Compliance with the certificate requirement was also on record, and the later denial of the exemption was not justified.

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Issues: Whether the imported horological brass strips were classifiable for exemption under Notification No. 46/85-Cus., or whether the presence of lead made them ineligible as leaded brass strips.

Analysis: The entry for leaded brass strips was not defined or amplified in the notification or chapter notes. The mere presence of lead in the brass strips did not, by itself, convert them into leaded brass strips. The customs authorities had proceeded on presumption without specific substantiation, and the goods had earlier been accepted under the same description for similar imports. The certificate requirement under the notification had also been met on the record, and the later attempt to deny the nomenclature was not justified.

Conclusion: The goods were entitled to the exemption, and the denial of benefit was unsustainable.

Final Conclusion: The appeal succeeded, and the importers were granted consequential relief.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an exemption entry is not defined to exclude the goods in question, a mere incidental presence of an element does not justify denial of the notification benefit absent clear legal or factual basis for reclassification.

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