Character of goods governs import classification; proposed project use does not change a pleasure boat's free-import status.

Import control for goods described as boats of a kind used for sports depends on the character of the goods, not the importer's proposed end-use. Inflatable and fibreglass boats intended for pleasure activities such as river rafting and water skiing were treated as freely importable because their essential nature remained that of sports or pleasure boats. The proposed use of the boats in project or survey work did not convert them into restricted goods. On that basis, confiscation and penalty were set aside.

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Issues: Whether the imported inflatable and fibreglass boats were freely importable as boats of a kind used for sports, and whether confiscation and penalty could be sustained on the basis of their proposed end-use in the project work.

Analysis: The boats were found to be meant for pleasure activities such as river rafting and water skiing. The adjudicating authority had nevertheless treated them as restricted on the footing that they would be used for work-related activities by the importers. The Tribunal held that the tariff and import control description turned on the nature of the goods as boats of a kind used for sports, and that the end-use proposed by the importer did not displace that character. Applying the principle that the expression "of a kind used in" broadens the description and does not import an end-use condition, the Tribunal followed the view that a pleasure boat does not cease to be such merely because it is put to another use.

Conclusion: The boats were held to be freely importable, and the confiscation and penalty were set aside.

Ratio Decidendi: Where import control turns on goods being "of a kind used" for a specified purpose, the decisive test is the character of the goods and not the importer's intended end-use; a pleasure boat does not lose that character because it is put to survey or project use.

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