Classification of Isabion as fertilizer turns on the distinction between plant growth promoter and plant growth regulator.

Isabion was held classifiable as a fertilizer under tariff item 3101 00 99, not as a plant growth regulator under heading 3808. The larger bench principle applied was that a plant growth promoter is not the same as a plant growth regulator, and that a plant growth regulator must inhibit, promote, or otherwise alter a plant's physiological processes. Applying that test to the product, the bench accepted the larger bench ruling and treated Isabion as falling within the fertilizer entry.

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Issues: Whether the product Isabion is classifiable as a fertilizer under tariff item 3101 00 99 of the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985 or as a plant growth regulator under heading 3808 of the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985.

Analysis: The larger bench had already answered the reference by holding that a plant growth promoter is not the same as a plant growth regulator, and that a plant growth regulator must inhibit, promote, or otherwise alter the physiological processes in a plant. On that basis, the larger bench concluded that Isabion merits classification as a fertilizer under tariff item 3101 00 99 and not under heading 3808. The appeal bench accepted that ruling and applied it to the product in dispute.

Conclusion: Isabion is classifiable under tariff item 3101 00 99 and not under heading 3808, in favour of the assessee.

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