Tariff classification of chemically coated paper upheld under the paper heading for imported film laminate with backing.

Imported film laminate with paper backing was considered under the tariff description in Chapter 48, and the decisive question was classification under the Customs Tariff Act rather than prior treatment under the old tariff or the goods' use in batteries. The provision was read broadly to cover paper and paperboard that are impregnated or coated, including paper carrying chemicals, because the carrier function did not remove the goods from the paper heading. On that basis, the goods were held to be paper impregnated or coated with chemicals and were correctly classified under Heading 48.01/21, so the assessment challenge failed.

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Issues: Whether the imported film laminate, described as paper backing or coated paper, was classifiable under Heading 48.01/21 of the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 as paper, or under the alternative headings claimed by the importer.

Analysis: The goods were described in the import documents as film laminate with paper backing and similar variants. The decisive question was the tariff description, not the earlier treatment of similar goods under the old tariff or their functional use in batteries. The wording of Chapter 48 was wide enough to include paper and paperboard that had been impregnated or coated, including paper carrying chemicals, and the fact that the paper served as a carrier did not take it outside Chapter 48. On the material before it, the goods were found to be paper impregnated or coated with chemicals and therefore fell within the paper heading.

Conclusion: The imported goods were correctly classified under Heading 48.01/21 as paper, and the challenge to the assessment failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Paper that is impregnated or coated with chemicals remains classifiable under the paper heading where the tariff description expressly covers such processed paper.

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