Audio and Video recordings intended for sale or for supply to Doordarshan and All-India Radio or any other Deptt. in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Notification No. 148/87-CE dated 20.5.1987 amending notification No. 68/86-CE dated 10.2.1986 - regarding - Central Excise - 341/14/84-TRU

Audio and Video recordings intended for sale or for supply to Doordarshan and All-India Radio or any other Deptt. in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Notification No. 148/87-CE dated 20.5.1987 amending notification No. 68/86-CE dated 10.2.1986 - regarding F.No. 341/14/84-TRU Dated 25-5-1987 Government of India Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue) New Delhi Subject : Audio and Video recordings intended for sale or for supply to Doordarshan and All-India Radio or any other Deptt. in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Notification No. 148/87-CE dated 20.5.1987 amending notification No. 68/86-CE dated 10.2.1986 - regarding. Attention is invited to Notification No. 148/87-CE dated 20.5.87 which amends notfn. No. 68/86-CE dated 10.2.86 so as to completely exempt from excise duty, audio recordings on spools and video recordings, whether on cassettes or spools, which are made from unrecorded materials and are either not intended for sale or are for sale or supply to Doordsarshan or A.I.R. or any other Deptt. in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. 2. This notification has been issued as doubts were raised whether audio tapes and video recordings containing advertisements of various products, relayed through the radio, and television media could be denied the exemption on the premise that they are intended for sale or for promotion of sale of the advertised products by virtue of the proviso to the notification No. 102/82-C.E., dated 28-2-82 and later incorporated in the notification No. 68/86-C.E., dated 10-2-86 (at S.No. 11) The CEGAT had also occasion to go into the interpretation of the expression "promotion of sale" vide its orders No. 153-156/85-D, dated 20-4-85 in the case of Prabhat Associates Others v. Collector of Central Excise, Bangalore. The Judgement, inter alia, holds that : "even in such cases we consider that if the recording on the cassette was in the nature of advertising or sales promotion materials, those would also be hit by proviso. We consider that the words "sale or promotion of the sale" should be given their obvious meaning, rather than the unusual meaning sought to be given to them which would make the exemption almost impossible to operate." Here the CEGAT was referring to the arguments forwarded by the petitioners that the expression "intended for sale or for the promotion of sale" would refer to the recorded articles only. This was also the view of the Deptt. on the basis of the Law Ministry's opinion circulated vide Board's instruction F.No. B.35/2/82-CE TRU. dated 14.5.82. In the light of the CEGAT judgement against which we have not gone in appeal, recordings of advertisements on audio spools/tapes and video recordings would become dutiable even when supplied to Doordarshan, AIR etc. In this context, with a view not to deny the exemption to such audio and video recordings, Notfn. 148/87-CE dated 20.5.87 has been issued amending Notfn. No. 68/86-CE dated 10.2.86. As a result of these changes, the exemption will be available only in the following cases : (i) recording which are not intended for sale, for example recordings by individuals households, educational and research institutions; (ii) recordings sold or supplied to Doordarshan; (iii) recordings sold or supplied to All India Radio or any other Deptt. of the Govt. of India in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting; The Technical condition of U-matic tapes of prescribed specifications has been mentioned in the notifictaion as these are only supplied to Doordarshan. This would obviate the need for any certification. 3. The issue of the notification also raises the question of duty liability on recordings of advertisements for the past period. It has been brought to notice that certain demands have been raised in this period in some collectorates. Such demands may not be enforced if the exemptions were made available on the basis of Board's advice earlier. Government is examining the issue of whether the duty can be waived for the past period under section 11C of the Central Excise Salt Act, 1944.