Tariff classification of fluorescent powder turns on ordinary meaning: a colourless chemical is not paint or pigment.

Fluorescent powder used in manufacturing fluorescent tube lamps was held to fall within the wider tariff entry for chemicals rather than the entry for paints and colour materials. The court applied the ordinary commercial meaning of the competing entries and found that the substance was colourless, not a colouring matter, and not used for protective or decorative painting. Its use in coating lamp interiors did not alter its essential character, because it did not answer to the popular understanding of paint or pigment. The commodity was therefore classifiable under item 28 and not item 30.

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Issues: Whether fluorescent powder used in the manufacture of fluorescent tube lamps was classifiable under item 28 of the Indian Customs and Central Excise Tariff as chemicals, drugs and medicines not otherwise specified, or under item 30 as paints and colour materials not otherwise specified.

Analysis: The classification turned on the ordinary meaning of the competing tariff entries. The substance in question was found to be a chemical but not a paint, since it was colourless and not a colouring matter used for protective or decorative purposes. Its use in coating the inside of fluorescent lamps did not change its essential character, because its luminosity arose only under ultraviolet irradiation and it did not answer to the common meaning of paint or pigment. Where a commodity does not fit the specific popular understanding of the special entry, it cannot be taken out of the wider chemical entry merely because it is used in a coating process.

Conclusion: The fluorescent powder was classifiable under item 28 and not under item 30, and the petitioners succeeded.

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