Customs, Excise and Gold Tribunal - Mumbai
Oboi Laboratories vs Commissioner Of Central Excise on 9 August, 2005
ORDER Moheb Ali M., Member (T)
1. The appeal arises out of the order of the Commissioner (Appeals), Mumbai.
2. Briefly the facts are that the appellant manufactures two medicaments, viz. Obroquin Injection 30 ml and Cloroquine Phosphate Injection 30 ml. The appellant filed a classification list claiming classification of the goods as patent and proprietary medicines under Heading 3003.10 of the Schedule to the Central Excise Tariff Act. The appellant is mainly exporting the goods. The department's contention is that the impugned goods are correctly classifiable under Heading 3003.20 in the light of the Supreme Court's decision in the case of Astra Pharmaceuticals v. CCE Chandigarh . The department's contention is that the products in question have retained the generic names and therefore are not P or P medicines. In the impugned order, the Commissioner (Appeals) after verifying the copies of labels submitted by the appellant, found that the generic name of the products is conspicuously displayed on the label. In the case of one product, i.e. Chloroquine Phosphate Injection, the name of the appellant, i.e. Oboi Laboratories, does not even appear on the label. He also holds that there is no house mark on the label. He found that the generic name of the product is shown more conspicuously on the label of the product. Rejecting the contention of the appellant that the goods are classifiable under Heading 3003.10, the Commissioner classified them under Heading 3003.20.
3. Heard both sides.
4. We have perused the labels filed along with the appeal papers and find that in one of the products the patented name "Obroquin" is conspicuously mentioned on the label. In so far as the other product in question is concerned, it does not carry any house name. The Commissioner's contention that the generic name is also conspicuously mentioned in the label and therefore the medicines are generic medicines and not P or P cannot be supported in view of the fact that the house name is conspicuously mentioned on the labels that accompany one of the products. We, therefore, hold that the product Obroquin is classifiable under Heading 3003.10 whereas Chloroquine Phosphate is classifiable under Heading 3003.20 as a generic medicine. Thus we allow the appeal partly in respect of the products on which the house name is prominently mentioned and reject the appeal in respect of the product where only generic name is mentioned on the label, classifying them under 3003.10 and 3003.20 of the Schedule to CETA respectively.