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2019 (4) TMI 538 - AT - CustomsBenefit of concessional rate of duty - applicability of N/N. 21/2002, dt.01.03.2002 - import and trading of various surgical products, including surgical tapes from China/Taiwan and Thailand - whether the surgical tapes imported by the appellant and declared as skin barrier ‘Micropore Surgical Tapes’ would be entitled to the benefit of the notification in question. Sl.No.22 of List 37 under Sl.No.363A of Notification No.21/2002, dated 01.03.2002? - Majority decision. Held that:- The entire evidences produced in the impugned order by the Commissioner, which is primarily based upon the information downloaded from the web sites, relates to the Ostomy procedure and various Ostomy products, which in our view is not of much importance, inasmuch as, it is the assessee's own case that such surgical tapes can be used in other procedures also. Learned advocate has rested his case on the simple reading of the said notification and the interpretation of the same and has impressed upon the point that the goods in question being admittedly skin barrier 'Micropore Surgical Tapes' are entitled to the exemption even though the same were capable of being used, apart from Ostomy products, in other procedures also - The notification nowhere insists on the end-use of the products and, inasmuch as, the product in question is capable of being used as Ostomy products, the same would attract the exemption. The expression used in the notification is skin barrier 'Micropore Surgical Tapes' and there is no justification in interpreting the said expression as "wafers". As such, the Revenue's stand that such expression only refers to the product Ostomy Wafers cannot be appreciated. According to us as long as the appellant's product satisfy the definition of the skin barrier ‘Micropore Surgical Tapes’, exemption would beavailable to them. As regards the interpretation of the notification, we can have guidance from the Hon'ble Supreme Court's decision in the case of Commissioner of Central Excise, Gujarat Vs M/s. Reliance Petroleum Ltd [2008 (5) TMI 13 - SUPREME COURT] wherein it was observed that an exemption notification has to be considered liberally and the benefit thereof should not be denied by taking recourse to doctrine of narrow interpretation. In the present case, we agree with the learned advocate that the entire purpose of the notification is to grant exemption to the products which are used for management of specified Ostomy procedures. The notification apart from covering the specific Ostomy products, also covers the general purpose products as already observed by us. Hence, benefit cannot be disallowed on the sole ground that the product in question is not being used exclusively as Ostomy product. Merely because the tapes in question are being used as multiple use items, the same would not be a reason to deny the benefit of the notification. The benefit of notification cannot be denied and the appeal has to be allowed
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