TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2023 (5) TMI 125
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....nt having its registered office at Ground Floor, SY No. 19, Gopal Reddy Estate, Medchal Road, Kompally 500100 India and holds valid registration under CGST Act, 2017. 2. The applicant has submitted that he is engaged in manufacturing of Aluminium Composite Panel/ sheet, (herein after referred as "ACP Sheets") in Haridwar, Uttarakhand, India. The applicant has place of business in Telangana at the address declared in the application for Advance Ruling under Rule 98 of Goods and Service Tax Rules, 2017. In common parlance the product of the applicant is called as "Aluminium Composite Panel", often it is called as "Sandwich Panel" or "ACP Sheet". The same is manufactured in 4 width (Fixed) and length of 89, 10* or 12 as required by the purchases. In fact the product is "Plastic sheet laminated with Aluminium Sheets". If recycled plastic is used in manufacturing, it can be said to be "Re-cycled plastic Aluminium Composite Panel Sheet". Aluminium composite panels are sandwiched type panel consisting of Nontoxic polythene core firmly laminated with thin Aluminium sheet on top and bottom (One Side affixed with adhesive polythene film for protection) and are being used as Industrial Produ....
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.... section where it can be cut into the required lengths as per order from specific customer or cut to standard length of 8 feet, 10 feet or 12 feet. The same is stacked, one above another, and then shifted to dispatch area as ready for delivery after pre-dispatch inspection process. 7. Use to finished Goods The finished goods of the applicant are used in different industries such as; (1) In construction of mainly Commercial buildings to be used on outside walls for protection from heat, water proofing, avoiding painting and like purpose by the builders and on tractors engaged in works contract. Form the sheets by drilling, routing, cutting and other process components, parts are prepared for use in construction /structure. (2) In Railways in coach building (3) In signage Industries for manufacturing of advertisement boards, name boards etc. (4) In passenger ship building industries, (5) In manufacturing of Furniture and Fixture, (6) In automobile Industries in manufacturing of passenger motor vehicles, (7) In interior decoration, (8) In construction of pedestrian bridges etc. This is not ready to be used as it is, but the same requires cutting, routing, drilling; ....
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....R STEEL; PLATES, RODS, ANGLES, SHAPES, SECTIONS, TUBES AND THE LIKE, PREPARED FOR USE IN STRUCTURES, OF IRON OR STEEL 3. The applicant submits following judgments from honorable Courts, from Sales Tax tribunals, documents, advertisement material, small samples of the product sold by the applicant, photographs and video describing manufacturing process etc. in following order; 1988, and that cotton fabric based laminates are classifiable under Heading 3922 90 till February 28, 1988 and under Heading 3926.90 on and after March 1, 1988. As regards paper based insulators it was held that same are classifiable under Heading 8546.00. In taking the said view the Tribunal has followed its earlier judgments in Amit Polymers & Composited Ltd., Hyderabad v. CCE Hyderabad, 1989 (20) ECR 454, and M/s Meghdoor Laminate Pvt. Ltd. v. CCE Ahmedabad, Order Nos, 553 to 572/89 dated September 29, 1989. As regards paper based insulators the Tribunal has placed reliance on its decision in CCE Ahmedabad vs Metro Wood Engineering Works, 1989 (22) ECR 369. Civil Appeals Nos. 1852-53 of 1991 have been filed by the Revenue against the said judgment of the Tribunal. III. ISSUES REQUIRING ADVANCE RULING: 1.....
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....iff Heading 3920. Chapter Heading 3920 of the GST Tariff is reproduced as under:- 3920: Other plates, sheets, film, foil, tape strip, of plastics, non-cellular and not reinforced, laminated, supported or similarly combined with other materials. As seen from the above narration in Chapter 39 of the GST Tariff, it pertains to Plastics and articles thereof. Chapter 3920 covers other plates, sheets, film, foil, tape strip, of plastics, non-cellular and not reinforced, laminated, supported or similarly combined with other materials. The applicant has clearly stated that the product sold by them is "Plastic sheet laminated with Aluminium Sheets"; it is clear from the reading of Tariff Heading 3920 that the impugned products, being plastic sheets laminated with aluminium sheets, are not covered under Tariff Heading 3920. Alternative tariff headings proposed by the applicant before the Authority for Advance Ruling are 7606 and 7610. The tariff Heading 7610 covers: Aluminium structures (excluding prefabricated buildings of heading 9406) and parts of structures (for example, bridges and bridge sections, towers, lattice masts, roofs, roofing frameworks, doors and windows and their fram....
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....ss in the subject products ranges upto 0.5 mm. Thus it is seen that the subject product would essentially exceed the thickness of 0.2 mm if treated as aluminium plate. However the commodity produced by the applicant contains both aluminium plates as well as plastic sheet which are in extricably bound with each other by a process of manufacture after the aluminium plates as well as the plastic sheets have come into existence in an anterior manufacturing process and are only raw materials in the production of the "Composite Panels". As seen from the ACP product information, the respective weight of aluminium and plastic are in the ratio of maximum 2.75 kgs per m2 of aluminium to maximum 5.75 kgs per m2 of plastic. Therefore the commodity is neither plastic nor aluminium wholly. The new commodity which came into existence as a result of manufacturing process cannot be classified either as plastic or aluminium based on the substance/substances from which it has been made. It is a new commodity having specified uses and therefore a separate marketability. Hence this is a commodity which is not specified in Schedule I, II, IV, V or VI of the Notification No. 01/2017 dt. 28.06.2017 and ....
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...., (ii) 6 per cent. in respect of goods specified in Schedule II, (iii) 9 per cent. in respect of goods specified in Schedule III, (iv) 14 per cent. in respect of goods specified in Schedule IV, (v) 1.5 per cent. in respect of goods specified in Schedule V, and (vi) 0.125 per cent. in respect of goods specified in Schedule VI appended to this notification (hereinafter referred to as the said Schedules), that shall be levied on intra-State supplies of goods, the description of which is specified in the corresponding entry in column (3) of the said Schedules, falling under the tariff item, subheading, heading or Chapter, as the case may be, as specified in the corresponding entry in column (2) of the said Schedules. "Tariff item", "sub-heading" "heading" and "Chapter" shall mean respectively a tariff item, sub-heading, heading and chapter as specified in the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 (51 of 1975). The rules for the interpretation of the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 (51 of 1975), including the Section and Chapter Notes and the General Explanatory Notes of the First Schedule shall, so far as may be, apply to the interpretation of th....
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....t and Second Schedules.' 7. Rule 3(b) of the General Rules for the interpretation of the Customs Import Tariff Schedule states "Mixtures, composite goods consisting of different materials or made up of different components, and goods put up in sets for retail sale, which cannot be classified by reference to (a), shall be classified as if they consisted of the material or component which gives them their essential character, in so far as this criterion is applicable." 8. Therefore the mixtures, composite goods and sets that cannot be classified by use of the previous Rules should be classified as if they consisted of the material or component which gives them their essential character. 9. As per the relevant provisions under Section 3 of the CUSTOMS TARIFF ACT, 1975, the Rule 3(b) of the General Rules for the interpretation of the Customs Import Tariff Schedule also applies for determination of the applicable IGST rate on the Goods. 10. As the rules for the interpretation of the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 (51 of 1975), including the Section and Chapter Notes and the General Explanatory Notes of the First Schedule shall, so far as may be, applies to the inte....
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.... be said that these purposes would be attained by the polyethylene sandwiched between the aluminium sheets. The essential character test is, therefore, to be undertaken by considering the aluminium component of the goods in question. Classification of any composite material has to be determined on the basis of its essential character rather than the percentage of components thereof." 14. Hon'ble Supreme Court of India in the case of State of Tamil Nadu Vs Pyare Lal Malhotra and Ors. AIR 1976 SC 800 held that where commercial goods, without change of their identity as such goods, are merely subjected to some processing or finishing or are merely jointed together, they may remain commercially the same goods, so long as they retain their identity as goods of a particular type. 15. The applicant has submitted that Aluminium composite panels (impugned goods) are sandwiched type panel consisting of Nontoxic polythene core firmly laminated with thin Aluminium sheet on top and bottom and described the manufacturing process in their application. The applicant listed the uses of the impugned product. Therefore the Aluminium panels, in the ACPs, which are bonded through Nontoxic polythene....
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.... to use in the form in which they are made but needs further processing such as cutting, grooving/routing, bending etc. before being put to use. Therefore, it cannot be said that the impugned goods in the form in which it is presented are 'prepared for use in structure'. Thus, the claim of the applicant to classify the said goods under CTH 7610 is not correct. 21. It is found that the subject product is covered by the decision of the Hon'ble Tribunal in the case of Commissioner of Customs (Imports), Chennai versus ICP India Pvt. Ltd 2018 (7) TMI 546 - CESTAT Chennai. The Hon'ble Tribunal observed as follows:- "The Ld.Counsel has produced a sample plate of the impugned goods(ACPs) before us. It is in the form of a sheet and definitely is not a structure, or part of structure falling under 7610. It cannot be used as structure or part of structure and is only plates that are generally used for cladding the surfaces. These are sheets which are cut and grooved to clad surfaces, walls etc. They cannot be termed as structures or parts used for construction." 22. It is found that in respect of most of the above uses of ACPs, the essential user characteristics are given by the aluminium....