TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2022 (6) TMI 1430
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....hey have submitted a specimen bill of entry evidencing the Import of the subject item under the above-mentioned sub-heading. Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) vide notification no. 41/2015-2020-DGFT, dated 15-10-2020 prohibited items failing under sub-headings 84151010 and 84151090 of Schedule- I of Customs Tariff Act, 1975. In this context, the applicant has filed the present application for the future import of spot coolers. 2.1 The applicant submitted that the spot coolers are portable air-coolers used for improving the work environment with a steady flow of cool air. While an air conditioner circulates the internal air of the workplace over and over again, a spot cooler pulls fresh air from outside and then cools it down through environment-friendly refrigerant R407C. Because of the property of more effortless mobility and no requirement of closed room for effective functioning, spot coolers are in use in industrial workplaces. Stating that the spot coolers are different from air conditioners, the applicant has submitted that unlike an air-conditioner which circulates the internal air of the installed place repeatedly, a spot cooler pulls fresh air from outside and c....
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.... DGFT Notification No. 41/2015, dated 15-10-2020, customs may insist on changing the classification of spot coolers. 5. I have considered all the materials placed before me in respect of the subject devices. I have gone through the submissions made by the applicant during the personal hearing. No reply has been received from the jurisdictional commissioners. Therefore, I proceed to pronounce my ruling on the basis of information available on record as well as information gathered from other reliable sources. The issue before me is the classification of the spot coolers. Spot cooling is a process that delivers conditioned air directly to a production line worker using spot coolers. Spot coolers work by sucking in the air around them and sending it across a closed-loop coil which contains refrigerant. The coil not only cools the air but also reduces its humidity. After the air passes over the coil, the supply vent pumps cold air back out into the room. The cooler releases any excess heat up through a flexible tube usually connected to a ceiling vent or pointed out of a window or door. Condensation from the cooling and dehumidifying process collects in a container. In respect of spot....
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....losed spaces. The machines may also comprise elements for the purification of air. They are used for air conditioning offices, homes, public halls, ships, motor vehicles, etc., and also in certain industrial installations requiring special atmospheric conditions (e.g., in the textile, paper, tobacco or food industries) ". The primary function of the impugned goods is similar to that of articles covered under heading 8415. The HSN notes further states that "the heading applies only to machines : (1) Equipped with a motor-driven fan or blower, and (2) Designed to change both the temperature (a heating or cooling element or both) and the humidity (a humidifying or drying element or both) of air, and (3) For which the elements mentioned in (1) and (2) are presented together. In these machines, the elements for humidifying or drying the air may be separate from those for heating or cooling it. However, certain types incorporate only a single unit which changes both the temperature and, by condensation, the humidity of the air. These air conditioning machines cool and dry (by condensation of water vapour on a cold coil) the air of the room in which they are installed or if they have an o....
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....ng excludes refrigeration units designed to maintain a fixed temperature well below 0°C in a closed chamber (e.g., lorry, trailer or container), and fitted with a heating system to raise the temperature in the chamber, within certain limits, when the outside temperature is very low. Such equipment is classifiable in heading 84.18 as refrigerating or freezing equipment, the heating function being subsidiary to the equipment's essential function, which is to keep perishable products cool during transportation. However, the impugned devices are not refrigerating or freezing equipment. In their submission, the applicant asserted that the impugned devices merit classification under sub-heading 84186990. As per the explanatory notes to heading 84.18, the refrigerators and refrigerating equipment of this heading are in the main machines or assemblies of apparatus for the production, in a continuous cycle of operations, of low temperatures (in the region of 0°C or less) at the active cooling element, by the absorption of the latent heat of evaporation of liquefied gases (e.g., ammonia, halogenated hydrocarbons), of volatile liquids or, in the case of certain marine types, of wa....