Classification of grinding stones with frame work under machinery heading, not millstones, under the HSN Notes.

Emery/grinding stones fitted with attached frame work, and used as part of power-operated machinery, fall outside Heading 6801 because the HSN Notes exclude grinding stones with frame works from that heading and direct such goods to Chapter 84 or 85. On the evidence, including the Revenue's own witness admissions that the attachments could be described as frame work, the goods were treated as machinery parts rather than ordinary millstones or grindstones. The goods were therefore classified under Heading 8437 as parts of flour mill machinery, not under Heading 6801.

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Issues: Whether the subject goods, being emery/grinding stones fitted with attached items described as frame work, were classifiable under Heading 8437 as parts of flour mill machinery or under Heading 6801 as millstones, grindstones and grinding wheels.

Analysis: The classification turned on the nature of the attachments fitted to the stones and the guidance in the HSN Notes under Heading 6801, which exclude grinding stones with frame works from that heading and place power-operated goods in Chapter 84 or 85. The evidence relied upon by the Revenue itself included admissions by its witnesses that the items attached to the stones could be called frame work. On that basis, the goods were treated as part of power-operated machinery rather than as ordinary grinding stones under Chapter 68.

Conclusion: The goods were correctly classified under Heading 8437 and not under Heading 6801; the Revenue's challenge failed.

Final Conclusion: The appeal was rejected and the assessee's classification was sustained.

Ratio Decidendi: Grinding stones fitted with frame work, when used as part of power-operated machinery, are excluded from Heading 6801 and are classifiable under the machinery heading applicable to the relevant apparatus.

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