The Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985

(ACT NO. 5 OF 1986)

[19th January, 1986]

An Act to provide for tariff for Central Duties of Excise.

BE it enacted by Parliament in the Thirty-sixth Year of the Republic of India as follows :-

1. Short title, extent and commencement

(1) This Act may be called the Central Excise Tariff Act/1985.

(2) It extends to the whole of India.

(3) It shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint.

2. Duties specified in the First Schedule and the Second Schedule to be levied

The rates at which duties of excise shall be levied under the Central Excise Act, 1944 (1 of 1944) are specified in the First Schedule and the Second Schedule.

3. Emergency power of Central Government to increase duty of excise

(1) Where, in respect of any goods, the Central Government is satisfied that the duty leviable thereon under section 3 of the Central Excise Act, 1944 (1 of 1944) should be increased and that circumstances exist which render it necessary to take immediate action, the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, direct an amendment of the First Schedule and the Second Schedule to be made so as to substitute for the rate of duty specified in the First Schedule and the Second Schedule in respect of such goods, -

(a) in a case where the rate of duty as specified in the First Schedule and the Second Schedule as in force immediately before the issue of such notification is nil, a rate of duty not exceeding fifty per cent ad valorem expressed in any form or method;

(b) in any other case, a rate of duty which shall not be more than twice the rate of duty specified in respect of such goods in the First Schedule and the Second Schedule as in force immediately before the issue of the said notification:

Provided that the Central Government shall not issue any notification under this sub-section for substituting the rate of duty in respect of any goods as specified by an earlier notification issued under this sub-section by that Government before such earlier notification has been approved with or without modifications under sub-section (2).

Explanation. - "Form or method", in relation to a rate of duty of excise, means the basis, namely, valuation, weight, number, length, area, volume or other measure with reference to which the duty may be levied.

(2) Every notification under sub-section (1) shall be laid before each House of Parliament, if it is sitting, as soon as may be after the issue of the notification, and, if it is not sitting, within seven days of its re-assembly, and the Central Government shall seek the approval of Parliament to the notification by a resolution moved within a period of fifteen days beginning with the day on which the notification is so laid before the House of the People and if Parliament makes any modification in the notification or directs that the notification should cease to have effect, the notification shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

(3) For the removal of doubts, it is hereby declared that any notification issued under sub-section (1), including any such notification approved or modified under sub-section (2), may be rescinded by the Central Government at any time by notification in the Official Gazette.

4. Consequential amendments of, and construction of references to the First Schedule to Act 1 of 1944

In the Central Excise Act, 1944,-

(a) for the words "First Schedule", wherever they occur, the words and figures "Schedule to the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985" shall be substituted;

(b) in section 2, for clause (f), the following clause shall be substituted; namely :-

'(f) "manufacture" includes any process,-

(i) incidental or ancillary to the completion of a manufactured product; and

(ii) which is specified in relation to any goods in the Section or Chapter Notes of the Schedule to the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985 as amounting to manufacture,

and the word "manufacturer" shall be construed accordingly and shall include not only a person who employs hired labour in the production or manufacture of excisable goods, but also any person who engages in their production or manufacture on his own account;'

(c) the First Schedule shall be omitted.

(2) Any reference to the expression "First Schedule to the Central Excise Act, 1944 (1 of 1944)" in any Central Act shall, on and after the commencement of this Act, be construed as a reference to the Schedule to this Act.