Printed laminated plastic films classified under Tariff Item 4911; demand and penalties failed under Tribunal precedent.

Printed laminated plastic films were held classifiable under Tariff Item No. 4911, following an earlier Tribunal precedent that printing of polyfilms did not itself amount to manufacture and that lamination after printing was treated as manufacture only from 10.05.2008. The Tribunal applied that precedent to accept that the appellant's product fell under Tariff Item No. 4911 and, even after lamination became manufacture from that date, the goods remained liable to nil duty. On that basis, the demand and penalties were held unsustainable and the matter was decided in favour of the assessee.

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Issues: Whether printed laminated plastic films manufactured by the appellant were classifiable under Tariff Item No. 4911 and liable to Central Excise duty.

Analysis: The dispute was covered by an earlier decision of the Tribunal holding that printing of polyfilms did not amount to manufacture, that lamination after printing was treated as manufacture only from 10.05.2008, and that printed laminated polyfilms fell under Tariff Item No. 4911 attracting nil rate of duty. Following that precedent, the Tribunal accepted that the appellant's product was classifiable under Tariff Item No. 4911 and that, from 10.05.2008, the activity amounted to manufacture but remained chargeable at nil duty.

Conclusion: The issue was decided in favour of the assessee; the demand and penalties were not sustainable.

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