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TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2018 (12) TMI 1541
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....ssumptions and premises such as these and far removed from facts that was relied upon by the first appellate authority does give us cause to pause and ponder. Besides pointing to this interpolation of an hitherto unrecorded proposition that the shark hunting so rampant in Somalia as sufficing to establish that squalene, acknowledged to be shipped by a vendor in that country, is of marine origin and thus to be re-classified before being confiscated as prohibited goods attempted to be illicitly imported, he was also at pains to caution us that the imported goods, though described in the import documents as 'squalane oil 80%', was not an oil but acyclic hydrocarbon containing impurities that required extraction. 2. Laying out the contours o....
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....extraction of fatty acids before export of the resultant hydrocarbon which finds use in cosmetic and pharmaceutical industry. He points out that the same declaration had, in the past, been allowed without any hindrance on the part of customs authorities. He claims that the declared classification is appropriate as the impugned goods are nothing but 'squalane' which is a separate chemically defined organic compound and, in terms of notes pertaining to the chapter, precluding coverage in any other heading of the First Schedule to Customs Tariff Act, 1975. Contending that the fulfilment of export obligation after purification, and the description, of the compound is not in dispute, Learned Counsel argues that the test results offered in eviden....
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....with consequential detriments and, even more so, in the import pertaining to that of M/s Aarbee Biomarine Extracts Pvt Ltd with a chemical description that obfuscated its true content. He also contended that the absence of dispute on the description of the export goods as 'acyclic hydrocarbon' could not lend verisimilitude to that claim for the imported goods merely by describing the process to be undergone as 'beneficiation' or as 'refining.' He also justified the validity of the test report of Central Institute for Fisheries Technology, and the continued correspondence arising therefrom, as the report of Central Revenue Chemical Laboratory had posited that the imported goods could be of marine origin. 6. Goods of marine origin under he....
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....roval without reference to the General Interpretative Rules. It appears to have stemmed from the chapter title, molecular composition and the principle of dominating constituent. It is clear from rule 1 of General Interpretative Rules, which discards titles as irrelevant to classification, that every organic chemical need not necessarily find placement in the said chapter unless in conformity with the appropriate heading and sub-heading. As the specific descriptions within the heading 'acyclic hydrocarbon', admittedly, do not find direct fitment for the imported goods, the dominance principle is resorted to by Learned Counsel for appellants. The dominance principle in rule of General Interpretative Rules applies appropriately to classificat....
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....ople in trade and commerce, conversant with the subject, generally treat and understand them in the usual course. But once an article is classified and put under a distinct entry, the basis of the classification is not open to question. Technical and scientific tests offer guidance only within limits. Once the articles are in circulation and come to be described and known in common parlance, we then see no difficulty for statutory classification under a particular entry. 37. It is good fiscal policy not to put people in doubt and quandary about their liability to duty, ........... .........., it would have been better if the article is eo nomine, put under a proper classification to avoid controversy over the residuary clause. ..............
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....ver, the corresponding claim of 'plant' life as the source of imported 'squalane' is not supported by any laboratory analysis. It is also admitted by Learned Counsel that the concentration of 'squalane' in compounds generated from 'plant' source would not explain the concentration reported in the imported goods and he was unable to convince us of his claim that beneficiation from combining 'squalane oil' from various sources would adequately do so. In our understanding, beneficiation is a consequence of blending of compounds containing higher concentration with those of lower concentration. With the maximum concentration of 'squalane' in compounds, irrespective of origin, being, admittedly, less than the concentration in the imported goods,....