Customs Duty Payable on Import of ‘Lawn mowers’ Classifiable Under Category of ‘Harvesting or Threshing Machinery’: CESTAT [Read Order]

The Chennai bench of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) held that the Customs duty payable on the import of lawn mowers was classified under the category of harvesting or threshing machinery. 

Honda Siel Power Products Limited, the appellant assessee appealed against the order passed by the Commissioner of Customs (Appeals) for re-classifying the imported goods of lawn mowers under the category of tools for working in the hands, electric or non-electric motor. 

S. Murugappan, the counsel for the assessee contended that the lawnmowers weigh more than 40 kg and cannot be held in hand while working and they are not portable and only the person walks behind the machine for controlling its movement by hand. 

S. Balakumar, the counsel for the department contended that the lawn mowers may have a cutter bar like an agricultural mower, rotary blades which cut the grass against a fixed horizontal blade, or a rotating disc with knives on the outer edge. 

Also submitted is that machines like lawn mowers, which are used for cutting grass along walls, borders, or under bushes, are capable of being held in hand and classifiable under the category of hand-working motors. 

The Bench observed that the classification made by the assessee was under the category of harvesting or threshing machinery and the classification made by the revenue was under the category of hand-working motors, but the classifications made by the assessee were considered as the right classification. 

The two-member bench comprising P.Dinesha (Judicial) and Ajit Kumar (Technical) held that the customs duty payable on lawn mowers which was classifiable under the category of harvesting or threshing machinery and quashed the re-classification made by the revenue while allowing the appeal filed by the assessee. 

To Read the full text of the Order CLICK HERE

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