Marketability as a for excisability defeats duty on unstable intermediate synthetic resins used for laminated sheets.

Synthetic resins used as an intermediate product in the manufacture of plastic laminated sheets were treated as not excisable where their short shelf-life and unstable nature meant marketability was not proved. The analysis applied the principle that marketability is an essential ingredient of excisability and noted that the Department failed to show the resins were stable or saleable in the market. On that basis, the resins were not regarded as marketable excisable goods and were held not liable to duty under Tariff Item 15A(i); the appeal was rejected.

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Issues: Whether synthetic resins used as an intermediate product in the manufacture of plastic laminated sheets were excisable and marketable so as to fall under Tariff Item 15A(i) of the Central Excise Tariff.

Analysis: The goods were found to have a short shelf-life and an unstable nature, and the Department did not produce evidence to show that they were stable or marketable. The decision followed the principle that marketability is an essential ingredient of excisability, and relied on earlier authority holding that unstable, short-lived resin in stage A condition is not liable to excise duty in the absence of proof of marketability.

Conclusion: The synthetic resins were not proved to be marketable excisable goods and were therefore not liable to duty under Tariff Item 15A(i); the appeal was rejected.

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