Commercial parlance test governs tariff classification: specialised optical lenses were not glassware and fell under Tariff Item 68.

Meniscus lenses imported for overhead projectors were classified for countervailing duty under Tariff Item 68, not as glassware under Tariff Item 23A(5). The classification turned on commercial parlance and popular meaning, not a literal or dictionary reading. Because meniscus lenses are specialised optical goods and are not ordinarily understood in trade as ordinary glassware, they could not be brought within the entry for other glass and glassware merely because they are made of glass. The revenue's challenge therefore failed.

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Issues: Whether meniscus lenses imported for overhead projectors were classifiable for countervailing duty purposes as glassware under Tariff Item 23A(5) of the Central Excise Tariff or under Tariff Item 68.

Analysis: The proper classification had to be determined on commercial parlance and popular meaning rather than on a purely literal or dictionary approach. Meniscus lenses are specialised optical goods and are not ordinarily understood in trade as ordinary glass or glassware. On that basis, they could not be brought within the entry for other glass and glassware.

Conclusion: The meniscus lenses were correctly classifiable under Tariff Item 68 and not under Tariff Item 23A(5); the revenue's challenge failed.

Ratio Decidendi: For tariff classification, specialised articles are to be understood in commercial parlance, and goods which are not ordinarily treated in trade as glassware cannot be classified as such merely because they are made of glass.

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