Per Jyoti Balasundaram :

The authorities below have denied the benefit of exemption from duty in terms of Sl.No. 9 of the Table annexed to Notification No. 13/95-Cus. "Agglutinating Sera" imported by the appellants herein on the ground that the goods are not identifiable as sera, because sera is a fluid fraction separated from blood after clotting, while imported goods were in freeze dried form.

2. We have heard Ms. Reena Khair, Learned Counsel and Dr. D.K. Verma, SDR. The Bill of Entry describes the goods as "Agglutinating Sera for detection of Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin in Urine" classifiable under Customs Tariff Heading 3002.10. We find that in the importers own case reported in 1997 (89) ELT 545, the Tribunal has accepted the contention of the importers that agglutinating sera can either be in liquid form or freeze dried form, and that the freeze dried form is also eligible to exemption from duty in terms of Notification No. 208/81 at Sl.No. 216 of the Schedule appended thereto. The relevant extracts from the Tribunal's order (supra) are reproduced below :

3. Let us first examine as to what is meant by "agglutinating sera".

3.1 Serum is the fluid fraction separated from blo