Excise classification of acrylic products turns on the finished article's character, not an intermediate stage of polymerisation.

For excise classification under Item 15A(2) of the First Schedule to the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944, the decisive test is the nature and character of the finished goods at their final stage of production. Acrylic sheets, tubes and plastic bangles made from monomer by polymerisation are not treated as articles made of plastics merely because plastic emerges during an intermediate stage. The tariff entry applies where plastic is the raw material for the finished article, not where a non-plastic monomer is transformed during manufacture. On that reasoning, such products fall outside Item 15A(2) and are not liable to excise duty.

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Issues: Whether acrylic plastic sheets, tubes and plastic bangles manufactured from monomer virgin and regenerated monomer by polymerisation are articles made of plastics falling under Item 15A(2) of the First Schedule to the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944, and thus liable to excise duty.

Analysis: Item 15A(2) applies to articles made of plastics, and classification for excise purposes depends on the nature and character of the goods at their final stage of production. The intermediate stage through which monomer is converted into acrylic sheets or tubes cannot be treated as the determinative stage for classification. The expression used in the tariff item covers goods where plastic material is used as the raw material for the finished article; it does not extend to a non-plastic raw material that is subjected to polymerisation during manufacture. On that basis, monomer used for making the products in question did not bring them within Item 15A(2).

Conclusion: The products were not covered by Item 15A(2) and were not liable to excise duty; the view taken by the learned Single Judge was upheld.

Ratio Decidendi: For excise classification under Item 15A(2), the decisive test is the character of the finished product, and goods produced from monomer through polymerisation do not become articles made of plastics merely because plastic emerges at an intermediate stage.

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