Prepared adhesives classified as glue, not synthetic resin, and assessable under the residuary tariff entry.

Goods manufactured by mechanically mixing duty-paid polyvinyl acetate dispersion with polyvinyl alcohol solution and additives were treated as prepared adhesives or glue, not as artificial or synthetic resins. The tariff entry for Item 15A(1)(ii) covered resin and plastic materials, including polymerisation and co-polymerisation products, but the product was marketed and understood in trade as glue, and trade classification materials supported exclusion from the plastics entry. On that basis, the goods were more appropriately assessable under Item 68, and the duty demand based on Item 15A could not be sustained.

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Issues: Whether the goods manufactured by mechanical mixing of duty-paid polyvinyl acetate dispersion with polyvinyl alcohol solution and additives were classifiable under Item 15A(1)(ii) of the Central Excise Tariff Schedule or under Item 68.

Analysis: The tariff entry covered artificial or synthetic resins and plastic materials in any form, including polymerisation and co-polymerisation products, but the goods in question were not merely resins in a different form. They were marketed and understood as adhesives or glue, and the material on record showed that such preparations are treated in trade and in tariff interpretation as prepared glues rather than as resins falling within the plastic-material entry. Assistance was taken from the Customs Cooperation Council Nomenclature and its Explanatory Notes, which support classification of specially formulated glues outside the chapter covering plastics. On that approach, the end products were more appropriately treated as adhesives or glue.

Conclusion: The goods were not classifiable under Item 15A(1)(ii); they were rightly assessable under Item 68, and the duty demand based on Item 15A could not stand.

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