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2021 (8) TMI 193 - AAAR - GSTClassification of goods - UHT Sterilized Flavoured Milk supplied by the appellant as ‘Britannia Winking Cow Thick Shake’ in various flavours in tetra packs/bottles - classifiable under Chapter 4, Tariff Heading 0402 or alternatively, Tariff Heading 0404? - HELD THAT:- In the case at hand, as per the label, the Milk constituent is ‘Standardised Milk’ or Toned Milk’ which are not ‘Full Cream Milk’ or ‘Skimmed Milk’ as per the definitions. The Chapter Note 1 clarifies the nature of Milk covered under the expression ‘Milk’ which is limited only to ‘Full cream Milk’ or ‘partially or completely Skimmed Milk’. This shows that the other types of ‘Milk’ are excluded for the purposes of this Tariff heading. In the products at hand, the percentage composition of Standardised Milk or Toned Milk is 80 to 90% and the products are not of ‘Full Cream Milk’ or ‘Skimmed Milk’ and therefore are undoubtedly excluded from the purview of Tariff Heading 0402. Therefore, irrespective of the contentions that the product remains a ‘Milk’ even with added flavours until it is consumed, it is clearly established that the ‘Milk’ referred to in this Tariff heading and that of the appellant are not the same and the products in hand are not covered under CTH 0402. The products in hand are products of Standardized/Toned Milk which are UTH sterilized and added with flavours, sugar, water, stabilizers, regulators, etc These are not Full cream milk or partially or completely skimmed milk and therefore not covered as ‘Milk’ under CTH 0402. Further, the products do not lack any natural constituents and further no natural milk constituents are added to it and therefore, are not covered under CTH 0404 also - there are no infirmity in the findings of the lower authority that the product in hand do not fall under Chapter 4 of the Customs Tariff, though the product is categorized under Dairy products and analogues under FSSAI Regulation 2011. NDDB being a nodal agency in the Dairy products and the 'Flavoured Milk' is categorized as Beverage as can be seen above. The process mentioned under ‘Flavoured Milk’, above is the one followed by the appellant in the case at hand. Further, Beverage as per the dictionary definition is ‘any type of drink except water’. Thus, it becomes evident that the product in hand is a Beverage. In the case at hand, the classification is based on the Specific entry applicable to the product vide the Tariff heading read with the related HSN Explanatory Notes and the applicable Chapter Notes - the Explanatory Notes have been taken as a guidance only, which is permitted under the Explanation to Notification No.01/2017. Further the classification is squarely dealt with by the application of GRI Rule 1 and therefore there is no need to examine the applicability of Rule 3(a) or 3(b) as claimed by the appellant. The UHT Sterilized Flavoured Milk marketed under the brand name ‘Britannia Winkin’ Cow Thick Shake’ by the appellant is not classifiable under the Tariff heading ‘0402 /0404” but classifiable under CTH 22029930 as held by the Lower Authority - appeal disposed off.
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