9911796707
TMI Blog2021 (8) TMI 729X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hole green nut, removal of large impurities, boiling in water for 6 hours, mixing food starch, drying, polishing, and packaging; * Chikni supari - All the processes as described above plus slicing into small pieces, * Unflavoured supari - Removal of large impurities by labour and small impurities by destoner, metal deflection, garbling, polishing, 3 stage cutting, blowing of weightless particles in blower, gravity separation by automatic gravity separation machine, roasting in fire gas rotary roaster, metal detection by magnetic metal detectors, and packaging. These nuts are said to be cut into 8 or 12 pieces; * Flavoured supari - All the processes undertaken in case of unflavoured supari plus sterilising to remove/kill bocteria and flavouring in automatic blenders with spices/or Mulethi and perfumes; * Boiled supari - Removal of large impurities, boiling in water for 4 hours, removal of husk, boiling again for 2 hours, drying by hot air, sterilizing, sorting, polishing, and packaging. 3. in view of the fact that the question on which the advance ruling is sought is identical; that, all the five products are common in both the applications; and that, all these produc ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... entral, and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal in the cases of M/s. S. T. Enterprises (Customs Appeal No. 40002/2021) and M/s. Ayush Business Overseas (Customs Appeal No. 40003/2021) rendered on 26.02.2021 in which it has been held that boiled supari merits classification under sub-heading 08028010. In view of the proviso (b) to sub-section 2 of the section 28-I of the Act, which mandate that no application for an advance ruling shall be allowed where the same matter already stands decided by the Appellate Tribunal or any Court; no ruling can be given in respect of classification of boiled supari, which is one of the five products involved in the applications of M/s. S R G Enterprises and M/s. SYM company. 7. Classification of API supari, chikni supari, unflavoured supari, and flavoured supari was a subject matter in another advance ruling application before me. In the Ruling No. CAAR/Mum/ARC/3/2021, dated 15.03.2021. I had the occasion to examine in detail the contentions of the applicant, the contending tariff entries, the relevant chapter and section notes, as well as the explanatory notes to the harmonised commodity classification system of the World Customs Organisation. Th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... covers nuts intended for human consumption (whether as presented or after processing); whether they are fresh, frozen (whether or not previously cooked by steaming or boiling in waters or dried (including dehydrated, evaporated or freeze-dried) and whether the nuts could also be whole, sliced, chopped, shredded, stoned, pulped, grated, peeled or shelled. 11. Keeping the relevant chapter notes and general guidelines in view, the processes undergone by API/chikni/unflavoured/fIavoured,/boiled supari need to be examined to determine whether such processes result in products which can be described as preparations containing betel nut, or even after such processes, the resultant products still substantially retain the original character of the raw material, i.e., areca or betel nuts. Examination of the processes undertaken on the raw betel nuts, as submitted by the applicant, reveal that some of the processes are nothing but mere cleaning or removal of impurities, e.g., removal of small/large impurities, blowing of weightless particles, gravity/magnetic separation etc. It is nobody's case that undertaking of such activities would result in a substantially different commodity tha ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d that the crushing of betel nuts into smaller pieces with the help of machines and passing them through different size of sieves to obtain goods of different sizes/grades and sweetening the cut pieces did not amount to manufacture in view of the fact that mere crushing of betel nuts info smaller pieces did not bring into existence a different commodity which had a distinct character of its own. In the aforesaid factual backdrop, the Hon'ble Apex Court observed that, "30. In our view, the process of manufacture employed by the appellant-company did not change the nature of the end product, which in the words of the Tribunal, was that in the end product the 'betel nut remains a betel nut'. The said observation of the Tribunal depicts the status of the product prior to manufacture and thereafter. In those circumstances, the views expressed in the D.C.M. General Mills Ltd. (supra) and the passage from the American Judgment (supra) become meaningful. The observation fhot manufacture implies a change, but every change of not manufacture and yet every change of an article is the result of treatment, labour and manipulation is apposite to the situation at hand. The process involved in t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ns of section 28-J (1), it is obvious to me that the task before me cannot be reduced to pass the advance ruling based on the previous ruling of AAR cited by the applicant. In view of the aforesaid discussions, I have reached the conclusion that all the five products placed before me for considerotion, i.e., API supari, chikni supari, unflavoured supari, flavoured supari, and boiled supari merit classification under chapter 8 of the customs tariff, and more precisely, under the heading 0802, and not under sub-heading 21069030, as contended. Accordingly, it is held that the benefit of the exemption contained at Sr. No. 103 of the Notification to. 50/2017-Cus., dated 30.06.2017 would not be available to the products, namely, API supari, chikni supari, unflavoured supari, flavoured supari, and boiled supari." 8. My conclusions in the said proceedings remain equally valid in the present proceedings considering the fact that the products in question are identical. Therefore, in view of the aforesaid, I refrain from issuing any ruling in respect of boiled supari for reasons discussed at paragraph 6 of this ruling. In respect of the products API supari, chikni supari, unflavoured s ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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