TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2022 (1) TMI 325
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....CAAR-1 requested that in terms of provisions of Regulation 13 of the Customs Authority for Advance Rulings Regulations, 2021 (CAAR Regulations, in short), Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC, in short) may designate a Commissioner, in the matter. Upon reference by the secretariat vide letter dated 19-3-2021, CBIC vide letter dated 5-4-2021 appointed Principal Commissioner of Customs, ACC (Import), New Customs House, New Delhi as designated Commissioner of Customs for the purposes of this application under the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962 read with the CAAR Regulations. 3. On designation of Principal Commissioner of Customs, ACC Import, New Delhi, in the matter, secretariat of CAAR, New Delhi sought comments of the designated concerned Principal Commissioner on the application for advance ruling, vide letter dated 8-4-2021. In this regard, Office of the Principal Commissioner of Customs, ACC Import, New Delhi vide their letter dated 1-6-2021 has forwarded the comments on the application for advance ruling, which are referred to later in this order. 4. The applicant while proposing to import the following devices has elaborated the details and describ....
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.... the word 'Alexa', they become operative and start recording the command which in present example is 'turn on the coffee maker'. Such device then sends this recorded command to AVS which analyses this command and send the command back to the smart plug, which will turn on the coffee maker connected to it by allowing electricity to pass through the smart plug. It is to be noted that the output direction/command given by the cloud for switching on or switching off the connected appliance is sent directly to the smart plug which in turn allows or stops flow of electricity to the connected appliance. For this, the smart plug is required to be connected to cloud directly through Wi-fi. In other words, the smart plug substitutes a switch connected to a socket, wherein the user can give voice command for switching on or off the connected appliance, instead of manually reaching out to the switch. The smart plug is only to enable switching on/off the connected appliance remotely by way of controlling the flow of electricity through it. (B) Wireless Speaker Device with Model No. P5B83L : DETAILS : Wireless Speaker Device with Model No. P5B83L (Echo Sub, in short) is....
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.... Act? (d) If the answer to question (a) is in the positive, whether the applicant is eligible to claim benefit of Serial Number 490 of Notification No. 50/2017-Customs, dated 30-6-2017? 5.1 In the application, it has been informed that an application pertaining to classification of the devices covered by this application is pending before the Customs Authority for Advance Rulings, Mumbai, which were filed by M/s. Amazon Seller Services Private Limited (M/s. Amazon Sellers, in short) and not the applicant; and the applicant will be importing the subject devices into India for the first time. It has been ascertained by this office from CAAR, Mumbai that no advance ruling order has been issued in respect of the said application. 6. Further to the above description/functioning of devices in question, the applicant has suggested that in view of the functions performed by the Smart plug, the relevant CTH for their classification would be 8537 10 00. It is also stated that Sl. No. 490 of Notification No. 50/2017-Cus. provides concessional rate of Basic Customs Duty (hereinafter referred to as "BCD") @ 7.5% to all goods classifiable under CTH 8537. Thus, the....
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....ikumaran. During the hearing, Shri Lakshmikumaran made submissions regarding the description and function of the said two devices, namely Smart Plug and Echo Sub. He highlighted the salient features of the devices, and submitted that the appropriate classification for Smart Plug would be CTH 8537 10 00, and Echo Sub would be 8518 21 00. Shri Lakshmikumaran further submitted that the designated Principal Commissioner of Customs, ACC (Import), New Delhi has also suggested the same classification for the two devices. The comment of the designated Principal Commissioner of Customs is summarized in the next para. 9. The comments received from the office of the Principal Commissioner of Customs, ACC (Import), New Delhi inter alia state that the item Smart Plug (Model No. C2YY3N) to be imported is appropriately classifiable under CTH 8537 10 00, i.e. Boards, Panels, Consoles, Desks, Cabinets and other Bases Equipped with Two or more Apparatus of Heading 8535 or 8536, for Electric Control or the Distribution of Electricity, including those incorporating instruments or control Apparatus of Chapter 90, and other than switching apparatus of Heading 8517. As regards other item, it is sta....
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....ification. Notes to CTH 85.37 explain that goods under this heading "consist of an assembly of apparatus of the kind referred to in the two preceding headings (e.g., switches and fuses) on a board, panel, console, etc., or mounted in a cabinet, desk, etc. They usually also incorporate meters, and sometimes also subsidiary apparatus such as transformers, valves, voltage regulators, rheostats or luminous circuit diagrams. The goods of this heading vary from small switchboards with only a few switches, fuses, etc. (e.g., for lighting installations) to complex control panels for machine-tools, rolling mills, power stations, radio stations, etc., including assemblies of several of the articles cited in the text of this heading." 12.3 The applicant has described Smart Plug as an Alexa enabled device that has multiple built in elements viz. a plug, a socket, a switching circuitry and a multi-function push button. The applicant has stated that device is primarily designed to act as a switch that can be operated remotely using Alexa devices. The device supports wifi and Bluetooth connectivity, and with such connectivity, the smart plug acts in its capacity of an electrical switch, alb....