Tariff classification by specific description upheld for silk-embroidered jewellery boxes, excluding them from textile made-ups.

Silk-embroidered boxes exported as jewellery boxes were held classifiable under Chapter Heading 42.02, not as textile made-ups under DEPB product group 89/75. The classification turned on the specific commercial and tariff description of the goods, which remained boxes in essential character despite silk embroidery. Section Note 1 excluded articles covered by Chapter 42.02 from Section XI, and the goods did not satisfy the definition of "made-ups" in Section Note 7 of Section XI. The view that textile material alone converted the article into a textile made-up was rejected, and the Revenue's classification was upheld.

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Issues: Whether silk-embroidered boxes exported by the respondent were classifiable as textile made-ups under DEPB product group 89/75 or as jewellery boxes under Chapter Heading 42.02.

Analysis: The product was described and known in the market as jewellery boxes. Classification had to follow the more specific description, and items covered by Chapter Heading 42.02 were excluded from Section XI by Section Note 1. The goods did not answer the description of "made-ups" under Section Note 7 of Section XI, since the essential character of the article remained that of a box and was not altered merely because it was covered with silk embroidery. The appellate authority's view that the presence of silk/textile materials made the goods textile made-ups was not accepted.

Conclusion: The goods were not textile made-ups and were correctly classifiable as jewellery boxes under Chapter Heading 42.02. The order-in-appeal was set aside and the Revenue's stand succeeded.

Final Conclusion: The classification claimed by the respondent was rejected and the original customs classification adopted by the Deputy Commissioner was restored.

Ratio Decidendi: For tariff classification, the article must be classified according to its specific commercial and tariff description, and an item excluded by the relevant section notes cannot be treated as a textile made-up merely because it is covered with textile material.

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