Marketability test defeats excise duty on short-lived radioactive isotope with no shelf-life

A labelled 18F-FDG compound with a very short half-life and no shelf-life was held not to satisfy the test of marketability for central excise. The Tribunal reasoned that the isotope begins decaying immediately on coming into existence and depends on immediate use after manufacture, so it cannot be treated as marketable goods for levy purposes. On that basis, the product was not chargeable to central excise duty.

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Issues: Whether the labelled 18F-FDG compound, having a very short half-life and no shelf-life, was marketable and therefore chargeable to central excise duty.

Analysis: The goods were a short-lived radioactive isotope whose utility depended upon immediate use after manufacture. The Tribunal held that, as a matter of the nature of the product, the isotope does not have any shelf-life and begins decaying immediately on coming into existence. On that basis, the product failed the test of marketability for levy of central excise duty.

Conclusion: The goods were not chargeable to central excise duty.

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