Unit container classification for packaged noodles turns on sealed retail sachets designed for predetermined quantities.

Noodles packed in printed plastic film sachets with tastemaker were treated as goods put up in unit containers and ordinarily intended for sale, because the form-fill-seal process produced sealed, individual packs bearing manufacturing particulars, batch details, price and net weight. The tariff entry under heading 19.02 was applied by construing "unit container" in light of the object of the classification scheme and the retail-sale character of standard packs. Flexible sachets designed to hold a predetermined quantity were accepted as unit containers. The goods were therefore classifiable under sub-heading 1902.10, not 1902.90, restoring the classification in favour of the Revenue.

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Issues: Whether noodles packed in printed plastic film sachets with tastemaker were classifiable under sub-heading 1902.10 as goods put up in unit containers and ordinarily intended for sale, or under sub-heading 1902.90 as other goods.

Analysis: The tariff entry for heading 19.02, read with the definition of unit container in Section IV of the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985, was applied to the packing method adopted by the respondent. The goods were filled, sealed and cut into individual sachets on form-fill-seal machinery, with each pack bearing particulars such as date of manufacture, batch number, price and net weight. The expression unit container was construed in the light of the object of the tariff entry and the settled understanding that prepared foods sold in standard packs intended for retail sale fall within that description. Earlier decisions on packing and container concepts were distinguished on the basis that the present tariff entry specifically turned on goods being put up in unit containers and ordinarily intended for sale, and the sachet was treated as a small bag designed to hold a predetermined quantity.

Conclusion: The noodles were held to be classifiable under sub-heading 1902.10 of the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985, and not under sub-heading 1902.90.

Final Conclusion: The classification in favour of the Revenue was restored and the respondent's goods were held exigible under the unit-container entry.

Ratio Decidendi: For tariff entries requiring goods to be put up in unit containers and ordinarily intended for sale, flexible sachets formed and sealed in-line with filling can constitute unit containers if they are designed to hold a predetermined quantity for retail sale.

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