Medicament classification under excise tariff prevails where shampoo is marketed and used for therapeutic treatment, not routine cosmetics.

Nizral Shampoo 2% was treated as a medicament under Chapter 30 rather than a cosmetic under Chapter 33 because its product literature, drug licence, prescription-only sale, and supporting affidavits showed therapeutic and prophylactic use against fungal and dermatological conditions. The common parlance test was applied, and the decisive factor was the shampoo's medicinal character and intended use for treatment of disease, not routine hair care. It was therefore classifiable as a pharmaceutical preparation, with consequential relief granted to the assessee.

---

---

Issues: Whether Nizral Shampoo 2% was classifiable as a medicament under Chapter 30 or as a cosmetic under Chapter 33 of the Central Excise Tariff Act.

Analysis: The product literature described the shampoo as containing ketoconazole as the active antifungal ingredient, prescribed for treatment and prophylaxis of pityriasis versicolor, seborrhoeic dermatitis and pityriasis capitis. It was manufactured under a drug licence, sold only on prescription, and supported by literature and affidavits showing therapeutic use. The applicable test was the common parlance test, and the decisive feature was the product's medicinal character and intended use for treatment of disease rather than its use as a routine hair care preparation.

Conclusion: The product was held to be a medicament classifiable under Chapter 30 and not a cosmetic under Chapter 33, in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The appeal succeeded and the product was directed to be assessed as a pharmaceutical preparation with consequential relief.

Ratio Decidendi: A preparation manufactured under drug licence, marketed and prescribed for treatment or prophylaxis of disease, and understood in common parlance as medicinal, is classifiable as a medicament under Chapter 30 rather than as a cosmetic under Chapter 33.

---