Tariff classification of printed and unprinted cartons, shells and slides remained under 4823.90 despite 1996-97 wording changes.

Printed and unprinted cartons, shells and slides manufactured on job work were held to remain classifiable under sub-heading 4823.90, not 4819.19, for the relevant period after the 1996-97 tariff changes. The tariff amendment was treated as a mere rearrangement in the wording of Heading 48.19, with no corresponding change affecting Heading 48.23. Binding precedent had already characterised the goods as outer shells and slides, not cartons, boxes or other packing containers covered by Heading 48.19. On that basis, the change in wording did not justify reclassification, and the departmental demand based on 4819.19 was unsustainable.

---

---

Issues: Whether the printed and unprinted cartons, shells and slides manufactured on job work basis were classifiable under sub-heading 4823.90 or under sub-heading 4819.19 for the relevant period after the 1996-97 tariff changes.

Analysis: The tariff comparison showed only rearrangement in the wording of Heading 48.19 for 1996-97, without any corresponding change in Heading 48.23 or its sub-headings. The goods had already been held by the Tribunal in earlier decisions to be outer shells and slides that were not cartons, boxes or other packing containers of the kind covered by Heading 48.19. The larger Bench view that such articles are not receptacles and remain outside the scope of the packing-container heading was treated as controlling. On that basis, the tariff amendment did not justify a fresh classification under Heading 4819.19, and the pending departmental appeal before the Supreme Court did not alter the position in the absence of any contrary order.

Conclusion: The goods continued to fall under sub-heading 4823.90, and the demand based on classification under 4819.19 was not sustainable.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a tariff amendment does not alter the essential description of the goods and binding precedent has already determined their character, classification cannot be changed merely because the wording of one heading is rearranged.

---