H.R. Syiem, Member (T)

1. This is an appeal of M/s. Trichem Laboratories against order-in-appeal No. S/49-1242/80R, dated 6-9-1980 passed by the Appellate Collector of Customs, Bombay. The importers M/s. Trichem Laboratories had imported methyl dichloro acetate ex. S.S. Canadian Express, bill of entry cash No. 2376, dated 14-5-1979. They claimed refund of the additional customs duty (countervailing duty) by virtue of Notification No. 55/75-C.E., maintaining that methyl dichloro acetate was drug intermediate as it is used in the manufacture of chloramphenicol, which is obtained by treating L Base with methyl dichloro acetate. They were holders of certificate from the Food and Drug Administration, Bombay. Their claim was rejected both by the Assistant Collector and by the Appellate Collector, although the latter held that methyl dichloro acetate was actually used in the synthesis of chloramphenicol. But he also held that such use did not make the drug a drug intermediate. He pronounced that there was a distinction between a raw material and an intermediate. A drug intermediate would be the penultimate product in the process of manufacture from which the drug would be obtained by