Essential character test in customs classification: a baby record book was treated as diary-like stationery, not a printed book.

A customs tariff classification issue arose over whether the publication "Our Baby's First Seven Years" was a printed book under Heading 49.01 or a diary-like stationery article under Heading 48.20. The decisive test was its essential character and intended use: although it contained printed matter, it was designed primarily to be completed by parents and doctors with handwritten or typed entries recording a child's growth, health and family particulars. On that basis, it was treated as an article similar to a diary rather than as a book of reading matter, and the claim for nil duty as a printed book failed.

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Issues: Whether the imported publication titled "Our Baby's First Seven Years" was classifiable as printed books under Heading 49.01 of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975, or as articles similar to diaries under Heading 48.20 of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975.

Analysis: The publication was a record book meant to be completed by parents and doctors with details of the child's growth, health and family particulars. Although it contained substantial printed matter, its essential utility depended on manuscript or typescript entries in the columns provided. The publication was not chiefly a book of textual reading matter, and the presence of some printed text or page numbering did not make it a book for tariff purposes. Heading 49.01 covered printed books and similar printed matter, while Heading 48.20 covered registers, note books, diaries and similar articles of stationery, including articles containing printed matter but intended essentially for completion by hand. The publication answered the latter description and not the former.

Conclusion: The publication was correctly classified under Heading 48.20 and not under Heading 49.01, and the assessee's claim for nil duty as a printed book failed.

Ratio Decidendi: For tariff classification, the decisive test is the essential character and use of the article, and a publication designed principally to be completed with handwritten or typed entries is classifiable as a diary-like stationery article rather than as a printed book.

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