SPAN DIAGNOSTICS LTD Vs. COMMISSIONER OF CENTRAL EXCISE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) FROM the impugned judgment dated 1.1.2002 delivered by the Customs, Excise and Gold (Control) Appellate Tribunal ('CEGAT', for short), New Delhi, vide Appeal No. E/1644 and 1645 of 2000-C, C.A. No. 5322 of 2002 and C.A. No. 1953-54 of 2003 have been filed by the assessees and by the Department respectively. For the sake of convenience and clarity we proceed to decide each of the following civil appeals serially.

(2.) IN this civil appeal we are concerned with the classification of biotech products. The said assessee was engaged in the manufacture of blood-grouping reagents and diagnostic and laboratory reagents. It had obtained registration on 10.9.99 for the manufacture and clearances of the following products: <FRM>JUDGEMENT_405_TLPRE0_2007Html1.htm</FRM> The above six items are called Monoclonal Antibodies (for short, 'MABs'). They were classified by the assessee under Chapter Sub-heading 3002.00 (Chapter Heading 30.02) of Central Excise Tariff Act (for short, 'CETA') whereas the Department classified the MABs under CSH 3005.90 (Chapter Heading 30.05) of CETA. The assessee classified MABs as "cultures of micro- organisms" whereas the Department classified the said MABs as "pharmaceutical products, not elsewhere specified or included". The CEGAT (Tribunal), vide the impugned judgment, upheld the classification of MABs under CSH 3005.90 of CETA as claimed by the Department, hence this civil appeal is filed by the assessee.

(3.) WE also quote hereinbelow relevant extracts of Chapter Note No. 2 in Chapter 30 of HSN (Second Edition) which read as follows: <FRM>JUDGEMENT_405_TLPRE0_2007Html5.htm</FRM>