ELFA diagnostic kits eligible for customs exemption available to ELISA kits

The Chennai Bench of CESTAT has held that diagnostic kits based on Enzyme-Linked Fluorescent Assay (‘ELFA’) technology are eligible for the customs duty and IGST concessions available to Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (‘ELISA’) kits under Notification No. 50/2017-Cus. and related IGST notifications.

The Department had alleged that the importer wrongly declared its VIDAS diagnostic kits as ELISA kits while they were actually ELFA-based products and therefore not entitled to the exemption. Rejecting this view, the Tribunal observed that ELFA is not a distinct diagnostic methodology but an advanced technological variant of ELISA, with the difference lying only in the mode of signal detection, namely fluorescence instead of colourimetric detection.

The Tribunal in Biomerieux India Pvt. Ltd. v. Commissioner, for this purpose, also relied upon expert opinions issued by the National Institute of Biologicals and the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization, which had clarified that ELFA and ELISA are essentially the same for diagnostic purposes. It was also observed that exemption notifications covering scientific and medical technologies must be interpreted in a manner that accommodates technological advancements and furthers the objective of affordable healthcare.

The assessee was represented by Lakshmikumaran & Sridharan Attorneys here.