Trade parlance test excludes kiln gas from carbon dioxide tariff entry where the mixture retains its separate commercial identity.

Under the trade parlance and marketability test, a tariff entry covering carbon dioxide applies only where the article emerges in commerce as that commodity. Kiln gas generated in the manufacture of sugar and soda ash was found to be a mixture of gases containing carbon dioxide, nitrogen, oxygen and carbon monoxide, known in trade as kiln gas and not as carbon dioxide. Brief compression in the process did not convert it into compressed carbon dioxide within Item 14-H of Schedule I to the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944, so excise duty was not payable on that basis.

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Issues: Whether kiln gas generated in the manufacture of sugar and soda ash is carbon dioxide or compressed carbon dioxide known to trade and the commercial community, so as to fall within Item 14-H of Schedule I to the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944 and attract excise duty.

Analysis: The process used by the manufacturers produced kiln gas, a mixture of gases containing carbon dioxide along with nitrogen, oxygen and carbon monoxide. The evidence showed that commercial carbon dioxide is ordinarily understood as a distinct marketable article, generally compressed, liquified or solidified and brought to market in a purified form. The Court applied the trade parlance and marketability approach and held that the relevant inquiry was not whether some carbon dioxide was present in the mixture, but whether what emerged was carbon dioxide as known in commerce. On the materials before it, kiln gas was known as kiln gas and not as carbon dioxide, and the brief compression in the process did not convert it into compressed carbon dioxide as contemplated by the tariff item.

Conclusion: The gas produced by the assessees was not carbon dioxide or compressed carbon dioxide within Item 14-H, and no excise duty was payable on that basis.

Ratio Decidendi: For a tariff entry taxing a goods-description understood in trade, the article must emerge as the commercial commodity described in the entry, and a mixture retaining a different commercial identity is not dutiable merely because it contains the taxable constituent.

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