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Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Excise & Customs
INSTRUCTION No. 01/2018-Customs
Room No. 229-A, North Block New Delhi,
15th January, 2018
To
All Pr. Chief Commissioners/Chief Commissioners of Customs/Customs
(Preventive)
All Pr. Chief Commissioners /Chief Commissioners of Customs
and Central Excise
All Pr. Commissioners/Commissioners of Customs/Customs
(Preventive)/ Customs and Central Excise
Madam / Sir,
Subject: Classification of Telecommunication Antenna used at Base Transceiver Station/NodeB/eNodeB- reg.
Board has received references regarding the classification of
Telecommunication Antenna which are used at Base Transceiver
Station/NodeB/eNodeB in wireless or cellular networks. A doubt has been
expressed whether the said goods are classifiable under CTH 8517 62 90, 8517 69
90 or CTH 8517 70 90.
2. The issue has been examined by Board and in this
regard it is informed that:
i) In a wired communication system, transmitter as well
as receiver is connected by a wired channel and information is transmitted
through that channel. However, in a wireless communication, available physical
channel for communication is free-space. The information can travel only in the
electromagnetic waveform. Therefore, in a radio/ wireless communication system,
the information at source is modulated and amplified in the transmitter and then
passed on to the transmit antenna via a transmission line. The antenna radiates
the information in the form of an electromagnetic wave in an efficient and
desired manner to the destination, where the information is picked up by the
receive antenna and passed on to the receiver via transmission line. The signal
is demodulated and the original message is then recovered at the receiver. Thus,
wireless communication gets established.
Therefore, antenna is an
essential device of a wireless communication system, which can generate
electromagnetic waves from currents and voltages and which can convert
electromagnetic waves to currents and voltages when these waves impinge on it.
In technical language, the antenna is a device that transforms time varying
electrical signals (which are in the forms of voltages/current) into
electromagnetic waves at transmit antenna and the electromagnetic waves induces
voltage/ current at receive antenna. Further, the antenna for wireless
communication works as transmit antenna as well as receive antenna.
ii)
The basic issue to decide for the classification of the Telecommunication
Antenna is, whether it is a part of the device/machine/apparatus of heading 8517
and classifiable under CTH 8517 70 90 or it is a telecommunication apparatus
classifiable under any other heading of heading 8517.
iii) The
classification of parts of the goods of Chapter 85 is governed by rules
enumerated in section Note 2 of section XVI read with general Explanatory Notes
to this Section Note. According to rule (a), parts which are goods included in
any of the headings of Chapter 84 or 85, are in all cases to be classified in
their respective headings. In other words, the parts which in themselves
constitute an article covered by a heading of this section, in all cases are to
be classified in their own appropriate heading even if specially designed to
work as part of a specific machine. Therefore, the goods under consideration
would fall under CTH 8517 70 90 as a part of the machine/apparatus classifiable
under CTH 8517, only in the situation when it is not covered by any other
heading of the section.
iv) However, as discussed above, the
telecommunication antenna being a complete device with a specified function i.e.
conversion of electrical signals into electromagnetic waves and vice-versa in a
wireless communication system, is appropriately covered by the single dash
heading “— Other apparatus for transmission or reception of voice, images or
other data, including apparatus for communication in a wired or wireless network
(such as a local or wide area network): ” of heading 8517 as an ‘transmitting
and receiving apparatus for radio-telephony’. Further, at double dash level, it
is squarely covered by the heading “8517 62 – – Machines for the reception,
conversion and transmission or regeneration of voice, images or other data,
including switching and routing apparatus:”
v) In view of above and by
application of General Rules for Interpretation 1 & 6, the Antenna used at Base
Transceiver Station/NodeB/eNodeB in a wireless telecommunication network, merits
classification under CTH 8517 62 90.
3. Difficulty faced, if any, may be brought to the notice of the Board.
F. No. 528/43/2017- STO (TU)
Yours faithfully,
(Piyush
Bhardwaj)
STO, TU
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