Polymerised monomer goods outside plastic tariff entry when plastic is not the relevant raw material.

Acrylic plastic bangles tubes manufactured from regenerated monomer through polymerisation were held not to be "articles made of plastic" for Tariff Item 15A. The Tribunal applied earlier High Court rulings that the expression covers goods made from plastic as the relevant raw material, and does not extend to a non-plastic material that becomes polymerised during manufacture. On that reasoning, the goods were outside the excise entry and the assessee succeeded on classification. The alternative plea on exemption notification and limitation was not examined.

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Issues: Whether acrylic plastic bangles tubes manufactured from regenerated monomer were classifiable under Tariff Item 15A and liable to central excise duty.

Analysis: The Tribunal applied the ratio of the earlier High Court decisions that the expression "articles made of plastic" refers to articles manufactured from plastic material as raw material and does not extend to a non-plastic material which undergoes polymerisation during manufacture. Since the goods were produced from monomer and the process involved polymerisation, they were not treated as excisable articles made of plastic under Tariff Item 15A. In view of this conclusion, the alternative plea regarding exemption notification and limitation was not examined.

Conclusion: The goods were not liable to excise duty under Tariff Item 15A and the assessee succeeded on the classification issue.

Final Conclusion: The appeal was allowed and the demand as well as penalty could not survive, with consequential relief to the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: Where plastic bangles or similar goods are manufactured from monomer through polymerisation, they are not necessarily "articles made of plastic" for tariff classification unless plastic material is used as the raw material in the relevant sense.

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