Whether Advance Ruling application can be filed for a question related to Circular issued by the Central Board of Excise & Custom? Is there any difference between Circulars and Notifications issued by the department?

26 - Advance Rulings

No. In the case of Jason James Clemens [2004 (11) TMI 5 - AAR (New Delhi)], it was decided that it needs no elaborate reasoning to conclude that the circular issued by the Board cannot be termed as a notification issued under Chapter V of the Finance Act, 1994, the subject-matter of clause  (d).  Chapter V of the Finance Act,   1994 contains 30 Sections: Sections 64 to 96; Section 83 makes applicable in relation to service tax certain provisions of the Central Excise Act, 1944; Section 12 of the Central Excise Act, 1944, through a Central Government's notification, in turn makes applicable in relation to service tax certain provisions of the Customs Act, 1962. Out of the provisions made applicable in relation to service tax, Sections 68(2), 75 and 93 of the Finance Act, 1994, Sections 11B (2) & (5), 11BB, 11C, 12, 37A of the Central Excise Act, 1944 and Section 110(1A) of the Customs Act, 1962 mention about notifications dealing with different matters, but the power to issue notifications under the said sections falling in Chapter V has been conferred on the Central Government only. None of those provisions is attracted vis-à-vis the Board's Circular under consideration. The power to issue circulars is conferred on the Board under Section 37B of the Central Excise Act, 1944, as made applicable by virtue of Section 83 of the Finance Act, 1994, which also falls under Chapter V. However, the Legislature chose to prescribe only notifications and not circulars in Section 96C (2) (d) of the Finance Act, 1994. Therefore, reliance on clause (d), in our view, is misplaced.

The same views were held in the case of Kartar Singh Kochar [2005 (8) TMI 413 - AUTHORITY FOR ADVANCE RULINGS, NEW DELHI].

Dated: 9-4-2015