Paperboard classification turns on overall technical characteristics, not end-use alone; white card board was held outside ivory board.

Classification of imported paperboard depends on the product's combined technical characteristics, not on end-use or any single attribute in isolation. On the facts, the evidence from later laboratory and technical reports showed that the goods were highly opaque, thick, not a pasted board, and lacked the clear, even look-through associated with ivory board; the import documents also described them as white card board. The Department therefore failed to establish that the goods were ivory board outside the licence coverage, so the confiscation order could not be sustained and release of the goods was ordered.

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Issues: Whether the imported white card board was classifiable as ivory board so as to fall outside the advance licence and attract confiscation under the Customs law.

Analysis: The licence covered white card board, paper and paperboard other than ivory board. The classification had to be decided on the overall characteristics of the goods, supported by technical and trade evidence, and not by end-use alone or by any single attribute in isolation. The material on record included conflicting laboratory opinions, but the later reports from the University of Bombay and the Institute of Paper Technology showed that the sample was highly opaque, thick, not a pasted board, and lacked the clear and even look-through associated with ivory board. The goods were also described in the import documents as white card board. On the majority view, the Department did not establish that the goods satisfied the essential characteristics of ivory board.

Conclusion: The imported goods were not ivory board, the licence covered them, and the confiscation order could not stand. The appeal was therefore allowed and release of the goods ordered.

Ratio Decidendi: For paper-board classification, the decisive test is the combined technical characteristics of the goods, especially transparency or clear look-through, and a product cannot be treated as ivory board on the basis of end-use or a single feature when the evidence shows that the essential characteristics are absent.

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