CESTAT held that services provided by foreign Computer...

CESTAT held that services provided by foreign Computer Reservation System companies to the airline appellant do not constitute taxable Online Information and Database Access or Retrieval services under reverse charge mechanism. The tribunal determined that CRS companies' database was created using information from the appellant and other airlines, with the appellant merely utilizing CRS infrastructure for enhanced booking mechanisms through travel agents. The agreement's purpose was promoting bookings rather than data provision, with consideration tied to booking volumes, not data access. Since data pertaining to other airlines was not provided to appellant, and OIDAR services require supplying previously unavailable information, no taxable OIDAR service existed. Matter remanded to Division Bench for merit determination.

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