TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2000 (9) TMI 174
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....lators of any material, and the applicable exemption Notification was Notification No. 77/89-C.E., dated 1-3-89. Under Notification No. 77/89-C.E., dated 1-3-89, concessional rate of duty was prescribed for electrical insulators of any material other than electrical insulators of paper and paper board, coated, impregnated or covered with plastics (excluding adhesives), and falling under Heading No. 85.46 of the Tariff. Relying upon the Tribunal's decision in the case of Collector of Central Excise v. Metro Wood Engineering Works - 1989 (43) E.L.T. 660 (Tribunal), the Asstt. Collector of Central Excise, Nasik, who adjudicated the matter, held the goods to be classifiable under sub-heading No. 8546.00 of the CET, read with Notification No. 77/89-C.E., dated 1-3-89. He confirmed the consequential demands since 1992. On appeal, the Collector of Central Excise (Appeals), Pune, observed that the goods in question could not be used directly as insulators as they had to be impregnated with resin, and that they were not an insulator but an insulating material. He set aside the order passed by the Asstt. Collector of Central Excise, Nasik, and allowed the appeal of the respondents before us.....
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.... 5. Nomex Mica. products were used by the buyers for insulating the electrical cables. The electrical cables with Nomex Mica products wound thereon was as a whole subjected to the processes of heating, pressing and curing for better adhesion of the products in question to the electric cables. As a result of all these processes, the resin already contained in the composite product got melted and the homogeneous insulation was provided to the electrical cables. This post curing process was for attaining the required electrical properties. 6. In their written submissions, the respondents have submitted that one of the goods manufactured by them and supplied to M/s. BHEL was resin rich, epoxy novolak bonded glass backed mica paper tape. It was provided in the corporate purchasing specification of BHEL as under :- "The material shall be made from Mica paper with a woven glass fabric backing adherent to one side and evenly impregnated with a B stage epoxy novolak resin. The homogeneous insulation produced after pressing and curing shall have temperature index of at least 155." The resin used for bonding was to be catalysed epoxide novolak, and more specifically a poly glycidy....
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...., the assessee had declared their process of manufacture as under :- (a) Mica Paper and Insulating Paper were cut to size. (b) Adhesive was applied to Mica Paper/insulating paper. (c) The paper was kept aside for natural drying and the evaporation of the thinner. (d) Mica paper was placed over the nomex paper and kept under pressure for good adhesion. (e) The composite product was then cut to desired size. 11. Such a composite product could not be considered as an article of Mica and could not be classified under Heading No. 68.07 of the CET. Under the Explanatory Notes to the Harmonised Commodity Description and Coding System (HSN), worked Mica and articles of Mica including agglomerated or re-constituted Mica, whether or not on a support of paper, paper board or other materials, were classifiable under Heading No. 68.14. It is made clear in the HSN Explanatory Notes that Mica insulators and other Mica insulating parts of electrical apparatus, even unmou....
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....commonly known in the market as torch. Ordinarily, torch is not described by the name of the material used in the tube in which the device of torch is housed. The commodity known advertised, sold and offered in the market is torch. Prefix plastic merely describes the quality of torch as distinguished from other type of torches. It is not sold primarily as plastic tube." 12. In their reply dated 30-8-93 to the show cause notice dated 30-7-93, the assessee had stated that their products were insulating materials. In their written submissions it has been explained that the goods in question were wound on the electrical cables and after the process of heating, pressing and curing, homogeneous insulation was provided to the electrical cable. In the Corporate Purchasing Specification by BHEL, for resin rich epoxy novolak, bonded glass, backed mica paper tape, it was stated that the goods were used as main slot insulator of stator and other parts of electrical machines. From the technical information placed on record, it is obvious that the goods in question were for wire insulation. 13. From the above description, it is seen that the correct classification of the products was under....
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....l) had held that the electrical insulation tapes were classifiable under Heading No. 85.46 CET as electrical insulators. In para 11 of their order, the Tribunal considered the scope of Heading No. 85.46 and held as under :- "11. We may now consider Heading 85.46, sub-heading 8546.00, which covers electrical insulators of any material. The lower authorities have relied on the explanation notes to the Harmonised System in ruling out classification of electrical insulating tapes under this heading. The expression "electrical insulators" occurring in explanation II to item 15A of the previous Tariff Schedule came up for consideration before this Tribunal Bakelite Hylam Ltd., Hyderabad v. Collector of Central Excise, Hyderabad 1985 (22) E.L.T. 879. The Tribunal went at length into the question and, after considering technical authorities as also Board's understanding as reflected in its tariff advice No. 123/81, dated 23-11-1981, came to the conclusion that articles made from materials which have electrically insulating properties (examples - mineral fibre, cellulose, glass fibre, certain plastic glass, porcelain etc.) can be appropriately described as insulators. The goods in that c....
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....d agreed that an article made from materials which have electrically insulating properties could be appropriately described as an insulator. It was observed that once the goods in question had attained the essential character of insulators mere cutting and making holes will not make those goods different from insulators. It was held that the industrial laminates in question were electrical insulators and were classifiable under sub-heading No. 8546.00 of the CET. The appellate authority had distinguisned this Triounal's decision on the following grounds :- "However, in the present case as mentioned by the appellants, their product cannot be used directly as insulators as they have to be impregnated with resin." The process of manufacture of the goods in question had been described above. It is clear that the adhesive was applied to Mica Paper/insulating paper, and during post-curing, it was just this resin in the composite product that adhered to the electrical cables. We, therefore, consider that the above observations of the ld. Collector of Central Excise (Appeals) were not factually correct. 16We may also. refer to the Tribunal's decisions in the case of (1) Wood....