TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2024 (9) TMI 1956
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....y M/s Mitsubishi Electric Automotive India Pvt. Ltd. [the appellant] to assail the order-in-appeal [Impugned order] dated 09.05.2022 passed by the Commissioner of Customs (Appeals), New Customs House, New Delhi whereby he rejected the appeals filed by the appellant assailing the classification of the goods imported under 60 Bills of Entry from August, 2020 to February, 2022. 2. We have heard Ms. Anjali Singh, learned counsel for the appellant and Shri S.K. Rahman, learned authorized representative for the revenue and perused the records. 3. Both sides fairly submitted that 127 appeals on the same issue in respect of the same appellant were decided by Final Order No. 56067-56193/2024 dated July 30, 2024 in favour of the Revenue and against the appellant. 4. The appellant manufactures and supplies parts of automobiles and for this purpose it imported "electronic control units for electronic power steering" (EPS - ECU) and their parts and classified them under Customs Tariff Item [CTI] 85437099 as "electrical machinery or apparatus having individual function". The department classified the goods under Customs heading 8708 as parts and accessories of motor vehicles. The disput....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....es the voltage supplied to the motor and thereby the amount of assistance provided in steering. According to the learned counsel, it not only regulates the electrical quantity viz., voltage but also regulates the nonelectrical quantity of torque. 11. As an alternative, the appellant claims that the EPS-ECU is classifiable under CTI 8537 10 00 as "Boards, panels, consoles, desks, cabinets and other bases, equipped with two or more apparatus of CTH 8535 or 8536, for electric control or the distribution of electricity, including those incorporating instruments or apparatus of Chapter 90, and numerical control apparatus, other than switching apparatus of CTH 8517 of voltage not exceeding 1000 volts". 12. The second alternative claim of the appellant is for the EPS-ECU to be classified under CTI 8543 70 99 as "Electrical machines and apparatus having individual functions, not specified or including elsewhere in this chapter- others". Classification of parts of EPS-ECU 13. According to the Revenue, parts of EPS-ECU are also parts (or child parts) of the power steering and hence they were correctly classified under CTI 8708 94 00. 14. The appellant has three alternative submis....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....cessories of the motorvehicles of headings 8701 to 8705 8708 10 - Bumpers and parts thereof : 8708 10 10 --- For tractors 8708 10 90 - - Other parts and accessories of bodies (including cabs) -- Safety seat belts -- Other- Brakes and servo-brakes; parts thereof- Gear boxes and parts thereof - Drive-axles with differential, whether or not provided with other transmission components, non-driving axles; parts thereof Road wheels and parts and accessories thereof 8708 70 00 - Road wheels and parts and accessories thereof 8708 80 00 - Suspension systems and parts thereof (including shock absorbers) - Other parts and accessories: 8708 91 00 -- Radiators and parts thereof 8708 92 00 -- Silencers (mufflers) and exhaust pipes; parts thereof 8708 93 00 -- Clutches and parts thereof 8708 94 00 -- Steering wheels, steering columns and steering boxes; parts thereof 8708 95 00 -- Safety airbags with inflater system; parts thereof 8708 99 00 -- Other 9032 Automatic regulating or controlling instruments and appar....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....g machine 8543 70 34 ---- Paint box 8543 70 35 ---- Video typewriter 8543 70 36 ---- Video matting machine 8543 70 39 ---- Other --- Edit control Unit: 8543 70 41 ---- Computerised editing system controlling more than three video editing machines 8543 70 42 ---- Other video control unit 8543 70 49 ---- Other 8543 70 50 --- Colour corrector --- Amplifier: 8543 70 61 ---- Broadcast amplifier 8543 70 62 ---- Limiting amplifier, video distribution amplifier and stabilizing amplifiers 8543 70 69 ---- Other --- Graphic equalizer and synthesized receivers: 8543 70 71 ---- Graphic equalizer 8543 70 72 ---- Synthesised receivers --- Other: 8543 70 91 ---- RF(radio frequency) power amplifier and noise generators for communication jamming equipment, static and mobile or man-portable 8543 70 92 ---- Equipment gadgets based on solar energy 8543 70 93 ---- Professional beauty care equipment 8543 70 94 ---- Audio visual s....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....than the radiators for the articles of this Section, articles of heading 8481 or 8482 or, provided they constitute integral parts of engines and motors, articles of heading 8483; (f) electrical machinery or equipment (Chapter 85); (g) articles of Chapter 90; (h) articles of Chapter 91; (ij) arms (Chapter 93); (k) luminaries and lighting fittings and parts thereof heading 9405; or (l) brushes of a kind used as parts of vehicles (heading 9603)" 24. This list does not include EPS-ECU by name although it excludes articles of Chapters 85 and 90. Thus, if any of the appellant's three alternative claims of classification is upheld, EPS-ECU cannot fall under chapter 87. Otherwise, the first of the above conditions for the EPS-ECU to be classified as part of automobile under Chapter 87 will be fully met. The third condition is that the goods should not be more specifically covered elsewhere. Here again if any of the appellant's claims that the EPS-ECU is more specifically covered in the other Customs Tariff headings is accepted, then it cannot be part of automobiles under Chapter 87; otherwise, EPS-ECU is clearly covered as part of automobiles. 2....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....egarding assessment or it could have been compelled by any officer to file Bills of Entry in any manner. 26. The appellant's second submission is that EPS-ECU and its sub-assembly are correctly classifiable under CTI 9032 90 00 as 'Automatic regulating or controlling instruments and apparatus' because based on the speed and torque of the vehicle EPS-ECU regulates the voltage supplied to the motor and thereby the amount of assistance provided in steering. According to the learned counsel, it not only regulates the electrical quantity viz., voltage but also regulates the nonelectrical quantity of torque. Learned counsel laid great emphasis on Chapter Note 7 to Chapter 90 which reads as follows: 7. Heading 9032 applies only to: (a) instruments and apparatus for automatically controlling the flow, level, pressure or other variables of liquids or gases, or for automatically controlling temperature, whether or not their operation depends on an electrical phenomenon which varies according to the factor to be automatically controlled, which are designed to bring this factor to, and maintain it at, a desired value, stabilized against disturbances, by constantly or....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....t of assistance provided in steering. EPS-ECU is in essence not a regulator of electrical quantity but is a regulator of the assistance provided to the driver in steering. 31. We are conscious that there are electronic instruments and apparatus which, though used in automobiles, are classifiable under Chapter 90. However, EPS-ECU is not an instrument or an apparatus but is a part of the power steering system. Merely because it is in the form of a PCB and other electronic components does not change it from a part of an automobile into an instrument or an apparatus. It is, in essence, a microprocessor with certain other parts which receives information from the speed and torque sensors and processes it and issues instructions to regulate the assistance provided by the power steering to the driver. Therefore, in our considered view, EPS-ECU does not merit classification under CTI 9032 90 00. 32. The first alternative claim of the appellant is CTI 8537 10 00 as "Boards, panels, consoles, desks, cabinets and other bases, equipped with two or more apparatus of CTH 8535 or 8536, for electric control or the distribution of electricity, including those incorporating instru....