CE - SSI Exemption - Goods not physically bearing brand name sold from branded outlets - SSI Exemption not Eligible
Legal Corner Icon — the image was hosted by the publisher and was not captured.THE assessee was engaged in the manufacture and sale of cookies from branded retail outlets of "Cookie Man". 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 words "Cookie Man" accompanied with a logo depicting the smiling face of a moustachioed 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.
The short question of law for consideration by the Supreme Court was, whether the manufacture and sale of specified goods that do not physically bear a brand name, from branded sale outlets, would disentitle an assessee from the benefit of S.S.I. Notification No. 1/93-C.E., dated 28th February, 1993, as amended from time to time.
The Supreme Court observed,
Once it is established that a specified good is a branded good, whether it is sold without any trade name on it, or by another manufacturer, it does not cease to be a branded good of the first manufacturer. Therefore, soft drinks of a certain company do not cease to be manufactured branded goods of that company simply because they are served in plain glasses, without any indication of the company, in a private restaurant. The good will continue to be a branded good of the company that manufactured it. The same principle would apply in the case of potato chips, chocolates, biscuits, wafers, powders and other such goods often sold from various locations.
In the instant case, the cookies were sold from a dedicated outlet of "Cookie Man" where 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. The store's decision to sell some cookies without containers that are stamped with its brand or trade name does not change the brand of the cookies. The cookies sold even without inscription of the brand name, indicate a clear connection with the brand name, in the course of assessee's business of manufacture and sale of cookies under the brand name "Cookie Man". They continue to be branded cookies of "Cookie Man" and hence cannot claim exemption under the SSI Notification.
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