Commercial understanding governs tariff classification for synthetic rubber latex, excluding end-use based resort to residuary entries.

Pyratax-Vinyl Pyridine Latex was classified on the basis of commercial understanding and common parlance, with technical tests used only as aids. The goods, examined in their imported condition, were known in trade as synthetic rubber latex and were used in tyre manufacture, supporting classification as rubber raw under Item 39 of the Indian Tariff Act, 1934. The authority's reliance on the material's ultimate dry-form use was rejected because the tariff entry did not make end-use determinative. An article with a reasonable claim to a specific tariff entry cannot be shifted to the residuary category on an extraneous basis, and the goods were therefore held outside the residuary and synthetic resin entries.

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Issues: Whether Pyratax-Vinyl Pyridine Latex was classifiable as raw rubber under Item 39 of the Indian Tariff Act, 1934, or as an article falling under the residuary and synthetic resin entries.

Analysis: Classification under a fiscal statute must ordinarily be determined according to the commercial understanding and common parlance of the trade, while technical tests serve only as aids. The imported goods were examined in their imported condition, and the record showed that V.P. Latex was known in trade and commerce as a synthetic rubber latex, was used in tyre manufacture as such, and had substantial support in technical and commercial materials as falling within the rubber category. The decisive factor adopted by the revisional authority, namely the ultimate commercial use of the material in dry form, was held to be irrelevant because the tariff entry did not make classification depend on end-use. When an article has a reasonable claim to an enumerated tariff entry, it should not be forced into a residuary entry on an extraneous basis.

Conclusion: V.P. Latex was held classifiable as rubber raw under Item 39 of the Indian Tariff Act, 1934, and not under the residuary or synthetic resin entries.

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