SIKA Block Joining Mortar to be classified under tariff item 3214 90 90 of the Customs Tariff Act: AAR [Read Order]

Recently, the Authority for Advance Rulings ( AAR ), Kolkata held that SIKA Block Joining Mortar to be classified under tariff item 3214 90 90 of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975.

The applicant, SIKA India Pvt. Ltd manufactures a product with proper HSN classification as 3824 50 90. While filing the returns he classified the product under HSN 3214 90 10. The applicant sought an advance ruling on the issue.

The applicant’s product is ready to use grey cement based water resistant mortar for fixing AAC blocks, fly ash bricks etc. Its chemical base is cementitious mortar modified with polymers. It is available in powdered form in 30 kg bags. It needs to be mixed thoroughly with water before applying a thin uniform layer of the paste to cleaned and levelled surface of the masonry units using the trowel. The next masonry unit is to be gently pressed and get jointed. It is, therefore, a bonding compound used for joining masonry units like AAC blocks and fly ash bricks. It is a powder made pasty before use by adding water, and it hardens after application, enabling joining of the masonry units.

Heading 3214 of the Tariff Act covers -Glaziers’ Putty, Grafting Putty, Resin Cements, Caulking Compounds and Other Mastics; Painters’ Fillings; Non-Refractory Surfacing Preparations for Facades, Indoor Walls, Floors, Ceilings or the like. According to Explanatory Notes to Harmonised Commodity Description and Coding System of World Customs Organization, Brussels heading 3214 includes preparations that are usually put up in a more or less pasty form and in general which harden after application. Some of them are solid or in the powdered form made pasty at the time of use by heating or by addition of a liquid like water.

The authority comprising of members Vishwanath and Partha Sarathi Dey observed “HSN 3214 90 90 is a residuary classification. It should include all other products that have the general characteristics mentioned above, and, therefore, classifiable under heading 3214, but are not specifically mentioned. Clearly, ‘Sika Block Joining Mortar’ satisfies the general characteristics of such products as per the Explanatory Notes above, and, therefore, classifiable under this tariff item. The contesting heading 3824 covers Prepared Binders for Foundry Moulds or Cores; Chemical Products and Preparations of the Chemical or Allied Industries (Including Those Consisting of Mixtures of Natural Products), Not Elsewhere Specified or Included. Clearly, a chemical preparation can be classified under such residuary heading only if it is not elsewhere specified. As the Applicant’s product, namely ‘Sika Block Joining Mortar’ is already specified under tariff item 3214 90 90, heading 3824 does not come into the picture.”