Tariff classification of reclaimed rubber sheets turns on whether they are rubber products made from rubber, not mere sheet form.

Reclaimed rubber manufactured as plates and sheets was treated as a raw material for further manufacture, not as a finished rubber product. The expression "rubber products" in Item 16A(2) was construed in its commercial and tariff sense as goods made out of rubber, so the mere fact that the goods were in sheet or plate form was insufficient to bring them within that entry. In the absence of a specific tariff entry for reclaimed rubber, classification fell under the residuary Item 68, and the claimed exemption under Notification No. 71/68-C.E. did not apply.

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Issues: Whether reclaimed rubber manufactured in the form of plates and sheets is classifiable under Item 16A(2) of the Central Excise Tariff and eligible for exemption under Notification No. 71/68-C.E. dated 01.04.1968, or whether it falls under the residuary Item 68.

Analysis: For Item 16A(2) to apply, the goods must first answer the description of "rubber products" and only then can the further requirement of being plates, sheets or strips, un-hardened, be considered. The decisive factor is the nature of the goods and the tariff description, not the assessee's earlier stand alone. On the materials placed, the reclaimed rubber sheets were treated by the assessee itself as a raw material for manufacture of rubber goods, used by manufacturers for further processing, and not as finished rubber products made out of rubber. The expression "rubber products" was construed in its commercial and tariff sense to mean products made out of rubber, just as "milk products" or "wheat products" denote articles made from milk or wheat and not milk or wheat themselves. Since reclaimed rubber was not shown to be a product made out of rubber in that sense, Item 16A(2) was held inapplicable. As there was no separate specific entry for reclaimed rubber, the residuary item governed classification.

Conclusion: Reclaimed rubber sheets were not classifiable under Item 16A(2) and were correctly classifiable under Item 68; the claimed exemption did not apply.

Ratio Decidendi: A tariff entry for "products" covers goods made out of the specified material in commercial sense, and a material retained as a raw material for further manufacture does not fall within that entry merely because it is in the form of sheets or plates.

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