Case: Commissioner Of Central Excise, Chennai Vs. M/S. Australian Foods India Private Ltd

Pursuant to an inspection by the officials of the enforcement Commissionerate, Chennai-II at the sales outlet of the respondent (hereinafter referred as, revealed that the assessee was engaged in the manufacture and sale of cookies from branded retail outlets of. The assessee had acquired this brand name from M/s Cookie Man Pvt. Ltd, Australia (which in turn acquired it from M/s Auto- bake Pvt. Ltd., Australia). The brand name used the wordsed with a logo depicting the smiling face of a mustachioed chef. The assessee was selling some of these cookies in plastic pouches/containers on which the brand name described above was printed. No brand name was affixed or inscribed on the cookies. Excise duty was duly paid, on the cookies sold in the said pouches/containers. However, on the cookies sold loosely from the counter of the same retail outlet, with plain plates and tissue paper, duty was not paid.3. The retail outlets did not receive any loose cookies nor did they manufacture them. They received all cookies in sealed pouches/containers. Those sold loosely were taken out of the containers and displayed for sale separately. Even though no separate register was maintained to account for the sale of the cookies sold loosely, their numbers were calculated from the number of empty pouches/containers left behind at the end of day.4. On scrutiny of the documents recovered from the said outlet and on the basis of the statement of the Executive Director, a notice dated 20th December, 2012 was issued to the assessee by the Commissioner to show cause as to why (i) the cookies sold by the assessee at its outlets be not classified under Chapter sub-heading 1905.11 as biscuits and (ii) in view of their use of brand nameon sale of cookies in plastic pouches/containers, S.S.I. exemption should not be disallowed.5. Upon consideration of the explanation furnished by the assessee, the Commissioner inter-alia came to the conclusion (relevant for the controversy at hand) that unless the specified goods or the packaging in which these are sold, bear the brand name or the logo, prescribed S.S.I. exemption cannot be denied. Thus, the Commissioner held that since there was neither any material evidence nor averment to prove that the brand name was embossed on the cookies, the assessee was eligible to avail of the benefit of small scale exemption in respect of cookies sold loosely from the counter of the retail outlet. Being aggrieved by the order, both the Department and the assessee filed cross appeals before the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal, South Zonal Bench at Chennai (hereinafter referred to asTribunal).6. The decision of the Commissioner having been affirmed by the Tribunal, the revenue is before us in this appeal under Section 35L(b) of the Central Excise Act, 1944 (for short. There is no dispute that the specified good is to be classified under sub-heading 1905.11 as Biscuits, manufactured with the aid of power. The controversy revolves around para 4 of S.S.I. notification No. 1/93-C.E. dated 28th February, 1993, which, in its erstwhile form, read as follows:The exemption contained in this notification shall not apply to the specified goods where a manufacturer affixes the specified goods with a brand name or trade name (registered or not) of another person who is not eligible for the grant of exemption under thisThe meaning of ais enunciated in Explanation IX of the said notification which says:or ‘tradeshall mean a brand name or trade name, whether registered or not, that is to say a name or a mark, such as symbol, monogram, label, signature or invented word or writing which is used in relation to such specified goods for the purpose of indicating, or so as to indicate a connection in the course of trade between such specified goods and some person using such name or mark with or without any indication of the identity of that person.Para 4 of the said notification that deals with exemption for certain goodswith a brand name was amended vide notification No. 59/94- C.E. dated 1st March, 1994, toThe exemption contained in this notification shall not apply to the specified goods, bearing a brand name or trade name (registered or not) of anotherPart (iii) of para J of the Budget Changes-1994-95 dealt within the SSIexplains the purpose of the amendment in the followingBrand name provision has been amended so as to provide that SSI concession shall not apply to the goods bearing the brand name or trade name of another person. The effect of this amendment is that if an SSI unit manufactures the branded goods for another person irrespective of whether the brand name owner himself is SSI unit or not, such goods shall not be eligible for the concession. Another implication of this amendment is that the requirement of affixation or brand name by the SSI unit has been changed and now the only condition is that the goods cleared by SSI unit bearing a brand name of another person shall not be eligible for the concession irrespective of the fact whether the brand name was affixed by the SSI unit or that, the input material used by the SSI unit was already affixed with brand

Court's reasoning:
We are of the opinion that such an approach is necessary to maintain the essence of the concept of a brand name. A brand/ trade name must not be reduced to a label or sticker that is affixed on a good. The test of whether the good is branded or unbranded, must not be the physical presence of the brand name on the good, but whether it, as Explanation IX reads,used in relation to such specified goods for the purpose of indicating, or so as to indicate a connection in the course of trade between such specified goods and some person using such name or mark with or without any indication of the identity of theTherefore, whether the brand name appears in entirety or in parts or does not appear at all cannot be the chief criterion; primary focus has to be on whether an indication of a connection is conveyed in the course of trade between such specified goods and some person using thewe hold that it is not necessary for goods to be stamped with a trade or brand name to be considered as branded goods under the SSI notification, discussed above. A scrutiny of the surrounding circumstances is not only permissible, but necessary to decipher the same; the most important of these factors being the specific outlet from which the good is sold. However, such factors would carry different hues in different scenarios. There can be no single formula to determine if a good is branded or not; such determination would vary from case to case. Also, our observations must be limited to this notification and not supplanted to other laws with similar subject matter pertaining to trade names and brandthe said principles on the facts at hand, we fail to see how the same branded cookies, sold in containers, can transform to become unbranded ones, when sold from the same counter, or even from an adjoining counter, without packaging carrying the brand name. Admittedly, on the same cookies, physically bearing brandld in containers carrying brand name duty is paid. It is interesting to note that learned counsel appearing on behalf of the assessee first argued that to determine if the cookies sold from the counter are branded or not, scrutiny must be limited to the case of the cookies themselves without looking at the surrounding circumstances; yet went on to argue that the tissues and plates they were served on did not bear the brand of the specified good. Either the environment of the goods can be looked into, or cannot be taken into consideration at all. Once it is established, as in the instant case, that the environment of the goods can be gone into to construe if it is branded or not, we do not see why the environment of the goods should be limited to the plates and tissues, on which they are served. As aforesaid, in the instant case, the cookies were sold from a dedicated outlet ofre no other products but those of the assessee were sold. The invoices carry the name of the company and the cookies were sold from a counter of the store. In our opinion, thedecision to sell some cookies without containers that are stamped with its brand or trade name does not change the brand of the cookies. We are convinced that the cookies sold even without inscription of the brand name, indicate a clear connection with the brand name, in the course ofbusiness of manufacture and sale of cookies under the brand name. They continue to be branded cookies ofnd hence cannot claim exemption under the SSI Notification.