TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (7) TMI 1415
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....sis on payment of duty as declared. The test result revealed that in the imported goods, Mechanical Wood Pulp (MWP) content was less than 65%, hence, not newsprint. The appellant disputed the said test report and requested for retest of the remnant sample. Accordingly, it was forwarded to Central Revenue Control Laboratory (CRCL), New Delhi for retest on 08.12.2000. The Director of Central Revenue Control Laboratory (CRCL), New Delhi by letter dated 22.06.2001 confirmed that the Mechanical Wood Pulp is less than 65% by weight, in the sample. Accordingly, the appellant was directed to remit the duty on the goods reclassifying the imported goods as paper for printing other than newsprint falling under CTH 480260 and CETH 480290. The differential duty was worked out to Rs.30,44,186/- on finalisation of provisional assessment which was directed to be paid. On adjudication the said demand was confirmed vide order dated 28.08.2002. 3. Aggrieved by the said order, the appellant filed writ petition before the Hon'ble High Court of Kerala and the Hon'ble High Court quashed the Order-in-Original and remanded the matter to the adjudicating authority for fresh adjudication allowing an oppor....
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....paper. Further, referring to circular dated 20.03.2007, the learned advocate has submitted that the said circular provides clarification on the testing method of imported newsprints relying upon HSN explanatory notes. In the said circular, it is mentioned that CRCL has been using Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) which is different from ISO standards since BIS covers only 19 plant species whereas ISO cover 32 plant species. Further, he has submitted that in response to their RTI applications, it has been specifically replied that ISO standards have not been followed by Cochin Customs Laboratory (CCL) and also stated that qualitative analysis has not been carried out as per the procedure. Also, the respective test reports do not mention of the ISO standards. 4.3. Further, he has submitted that cross examination of Dr. Archana Sinha revealed that the analysis of the sample was carried out on the prescribed standard and authentic literature. The CBEC circular dated 20.03.2007 made it very clear that CRCL has been following BIS standards earlier and it did not have the facility to determine the mechanical wood pulp content in a newsprint, therefore, the test report generated by the C....
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....le to the imports effected by the appellant as on 18.05.1999. In support they placed reliance on the following judgments :- (i) Commissioner of Customs (Preventive) vs. Goyal Traders, 2014 (302) ELT 529 (Guj.), (ii) Jayaswal Neco Ltd. v. Commissioner of Customs, Visakhpatnam, 2015 (322) E.L.T. 561 (SC), (iii) Commissioner of Customs v. Hindalco Industries Ltd., 2008 (231) E.L.T. 36 (Guj.) (iv) Reliance Industries Ltd. v. Union of India, 2015 (326) E.L.T. 664 (Guj.), (v) Commissioner of Customs, Tuticorin v. CESTAT, Chennai, 2021 (376) E.L.T. 65 (Mad.) and (iv) M/s. Cisco Systems Pvt. Ltd. v. Commissioner of Customs, Bangalore, Final Order No.20005 to 20010/2022 dated 07.01.2022. 5.1. Per contra, learned AR for the Revenue reiterating the findings of the authorities below submitted that the issue involved in the present appeal is regarding classification and assessment of imported newsprint. The initial analysis of the samples of the imported goods by the Cochin Customs Laboratory and retest by the Central Revenue Laboratory, New Delhi revealed that mechanical wood pulp content was 53.1% which is much below than 65% threshold necessary for its classification as newsprint. The adj....
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.... Heading No. Sub- heading No. Description of article Rate of duty standard Preferential areas (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) 48.01 4801.00 Newsprint, in rolls or sheets 15% .... 48.02 Uncoated paper and paperboard, of a kind used for writing, printing or other graphic purposes, and punch card stock and punch tape paper, in rolls or sheets, other than paper of heading No.48.01 or 48.03; hand-made paper and paper board 4802.10 Hand-made paper and paperboard 35% .... 4802.20 Paper and paperboard of a kind used as a base for photo-sensitive, heat-sensitive or electros-sensitive paper or paperboard 35% .... 4802.30 Carbonising base paper 35% .... 4802.40 Wallpaper base -Other paper and paperboard, not containing fibres obtained by a mechanical process or of which not more than 10% by weight of the total fibre content consists of such fibres: 35% .... 4802.51 Weighing less than 40/m2 35% .... 4802.52 Weighing 40/m2 or more but not more than 150 g/m2 35% .... 4802.53 Weighing ....
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....44 Paper and board Determination of ash Brightness: ISO 2470 Paper and board-Measurement of diffuse blue reflectance factor (ISO brightness) Bursting strength and burst index: ISO 2758 Paper Determination of bursting strength ISO 2759 Board Determination of bursting strength CMT 60 (crush resistance): ISO 7263 Corrugating medium Determination of the flat crush resistance after laboratory fluting Fibre composition: ISO 9184/1-3 Paper, board and pulps -- Fibre furnish analysis Grammage (weight): ISO 536 Paper and board - Determination of Grammage" 14. It is the contention of the learned advocate for the appellant that information collected through RTI revealed that to ascertain the fibre content, both the laboratories at Cochin Customs Laboratory and CRCL, New Delhi have not adopted the ISO 9184/1-3 standard, but instead, adopted the Indian Standard IS 5285/1998; thereby, the result arrived at indicating the fibre content is less than 65% is incorrect. Also, the learned advocate drew our attention that in BIS 5285 standard, it covers only 19 plant species, whereas in ISO 9184, 31 plant species are con....