Customs, Excise and Gold Tribunal - Delhi
Electronics Trade And Tech. Dev. Corpn. ... vs Collr. Of Cus. on 27 June, 1989
Equivalent citations: 2000(118)ELT152(TRI-DEL)
ORDER G.A. Brahma Deva, Member (J)
1. This appeal arises out of and is directed against the Order-in-appeal No. 3746/83-BCH, dated 28-10-1983 passed by the Collector of Customs (Appeals), Bombay.
2. The main issue in this appeal is whether woofer and tweeter imported by the appellants were clasoifiable under Item 33F(2) or under Item 68 of the C.E.T. for the purpose of counter-vailing duty.
3. The appellants imported 16,000 pieces of speakers and tweeters from Japan under Bill of entry No. 847-D, dated 8-10-1982 and these goods were assessed for customs duty under Item No. 85.14 with countervailing duty under C.E. Tariff Item 33F(2) and duty was duly paid. Subsequently, refund application was filed before the Assistant Collector of Customs, Bombay claiming that the goods in question for the purposes of countervailing duty came under the scope of Tariff Item 68 and not under Tariff Item 33F(2) as originally assessed. This refund claim was rejected by the Assistant Collector on the ground that the speaker is specifically covered under C.E.T. Item 33-F (2) and as such, it cannot be classified under C.E.T. Item 68. Not satisfied with this finding, the appellants filed an appeal before the Collector (Appeals), Bombay and become unsuccessful. Hence this second appeal.
4. Dr. Gauri Shanker, Senior Advocate with Shri S. Rajappa, Advocate appeared for the appellants and Shri C.V. Durgayya, Junior Departmental Representative appeared for the respondent.
5. Learned Senior Counsel Dr. Gauri Shanker appearing for the appellants contends before us that woofer and tweeter are nothing but loudspeakers as they are basically component parts of loudspeaker and it is understood as musical system in general and commercially it is known as Stereo or Hi-Fi system. Speaker, loudspeaker and Speaker system are synonymous in terms and in the same sense it is used in literature as broadly they are parts of the speaker system and in support of his theory he has produced the extract from the Oxford Dictionary and extract from Encyclopaedia Britannica to strengthen his case by demonstrating the article by producing copy of drawing specification. He has submitted that these woofer and tweeter speakers do not come under 33F(2) for the purpose of countervailing duty as they are not housed in acoustically designed enclosures which is the main criterion to bring it under 33F (2). In support of his contention, he has made reference to the similar import of M/s. Sonodyne Electronic Company Private Limited where the Collector (Appeals), Calcutta has in his Order No. CALCAS. 302/1982, dated 12-2-1982 decided that the loudspeakers were not housed in acoustically designed enclosures and therefore, they go out of the ambit of Central Excise Tariff Item 33F and would, therefore, fall under Item 68 of the C.E.T. The learned Counsel has further attacked the findings of the Collector (Appeals) in the impugned order wherein the Collector (Appeals) himself admitted that these were not housed in acoustically designed enclosures, but he added that they were capable of being housed in acoustically designed enclosures which is unwarranted. The learned Counsel has brought to our notice the Trade Notice No. 34 (MP)/all other goods (NES)/(2)/1976, dated 19-3-1976 issued by the Bombay Collectorate in support of his argument that microphones and loudspeakers other than those for gramophones are classifiable under Tariff Item 68.
6. Learned Junior Departmental Representative Shri Durgayya while countering the above arguments has submitted that 33F(2) also deal with musical system consisting of speaker and speaker system. Speaker should be read independently from speaker system and the condition of acoustically designed enclosures is with reference to speaker system and no such condition is attached to speaker as speaker and speaker system are distinguishable and he further contended that the commodity in question is speaker and as such, is classifiable under Tariff Item 33F(2) and not Item 68 as claimed by the appellants.
7. We have heard both sides at length and perused the records. Now the point to be considered is whether speaker and speaker system are one and the same and the condition of acoustically designed enclosures is with reference to speaker system or to both speaker and speaker system. The term loudspeaker has been explained in the extract from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Volume - 7 that loudspeakers are frequently divided into two classes: tweeters, for high frequency reproduction and woofers, for low frequency reproduction, and in the same sense it has been defined even in Oxford Dictionary. Woofer : Loudspeaker for accurately reproducing low-frequency signals and Tweeter is small loudspeaker for accurately reproducing high frequency signals, and it is further explained in Encyclopaedia Britannica Volume-7, that loudspeaker, also called speaker, in sound reproduction device for converting electrical energy into acoustical signal energy that is radiated into a room or open air. Further, at page 623 of Encyclopaedia Britannica Volume - 26 the function of loudspeakers and speaker system has been distinguished as follows "The performance of a dynamic loudspeaker depends heavily on the enclosure in which it is mounted. An enclosure with a port (an opening to the outside) precisely dimensioned to match the acoustic characteristics of the speaker mounted in it enhances efficiency and bass response, though some find the bass quality "boomy" and unnatural. An acoustic-suspension speaker system is one in which the volume of air within a sealed cabinet, rather than a conventional mechanical suspension, supplies much of the restoring force to centre the cone after its excursions. This type of design is particularly popular in home sound systems because of its relatively small size and smooth bass response.
A single dynamic loudspeaker cannot fully cover the entire frequency range of recorded sound so it is customary to divide the frequency spectrum into parts that are reproduced by appropriately designed speakers. The low-frequency speaker is called a "woofer" and the high frequency speaker a "tweeter".
8. As per explanation in details in Oxford Dictionary and Encyclopaedia Britannica, we can come to the conclusion that woofer and tweeter are only loudspeaker and it is distinguished from speaker system as speaker and speaker system are separate and in that sense it has been used in CET Item 33F (2) which reads as under :-
"33F. MUSICAL SYSTEMS COMMERCIALLY KNOWN AS STEREO OR HI-FI SYSTEMS, NAMELY :-
(2) Speakers and speaker systems housed in acoustically designed enclosures which are ordinarily used as attachments with stereo or hi-fi systems or with radios (including transistor sets), tuners, radiograms, gramophones (including record players) and tape recorders or players (including cassette recorders or players) having in-built stereo devices.
9. It is admitted that woofer and tweeter are not housed in acoustically designed enclosures. As contended by the Departmental Representative the term speaker is independent from speaker system and in that sense only it was used in Item 33F (2) and hence the condition of acoustically designed enclosure refers to speaker system only and not to the speaker, and speaker as such is classifiable under Item 33F (2) and it attracts countervailing duty.
10. In the view we have taken, the impugned order is upheld and the Department is justified in bringing woofer and tweeter under Item 33F (2) for the purpose of countervailing duty and accordingly, the appeal is dismissed