Product classification follows recognised standards: biscuits with unpermitted vegetable fat could not be treated as chocolate.

Where a tariff entry is tied to a recognised product standard, classification depends on whether the goods satisfy the standard's permitted ingredients. Bourbon Cream biscuits containing vegetable fat did not meet the ISI specification for chocolate, because vegetable fat was not an allowed ingredient. The absence of the original departmental letter said to show cocoa butter left the record to be assessed on the copy produced by the assessee, but that did not alter the essential point that the product fell outside the chocolate description. Market description and the presence of cocoa powder were insufficient to override the standard, so the goods were classifiable under the residuary tariff entry.

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Issues: Whether Bourbon Cream biscuits containing vegetable fat and cocoa powder were classifiable as chocolate under Tariff Item 1A(4) of the Central Excise Tariff, or under the residuary Tariff Item 68.

Analysis: The product was tested against the relevant ISI specification for chocolate, which permitted only the prescribed essential and optional ingredients. The material on record indicated that the product contained vanaspati or vegetable fat, while vegetable fat was not one of the permitted ingredients. The Department did not produce the original letter relied upon to show that the product contained cocoa butter, and the Tribunal proceeded on the copy filed by the assessee. Since the presence of vegetable fat took the product outside the specification for chocolate, market description or the use of cocoa powder could not determine classification as chocolate.

Conclusion: Bourbon Cream biscuits did not fall within the description of chocolate under Tariff Item 1A(4) and were correctly classifiable under Tariff Item 68, in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a tariff entry is linked to a product description governed by a recognised standard, the product must satisfy that standard's permitted ingredients; if it contains an unpermitted ingredient, it cannot be classified under that description and falls to be assessed under the residuary entry.

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