Trade parlance controls tariff classification of white cement, while ISI specifications remain only an ancillary aid.

White cement was held classifiable under the residual tariff entry rather than as rapid hardening cement for the period before 1-3-1992, because the specified entry was read as covering gray portland cement and allied varieties, with "gray" qualifying the whole entry. The later separate heading for white cement was treated as confirming that it was not earlier covered by the specified entry. Trade parlance prevailed: the goods were known in the market as white cement, as reflected in technical bulletins and on the bags, and that market identity could not be displaced by selective reliance on ISI specifications. The plea based on contemporaneous exposition was rejected.

---

---

Issues: Whether the white cement manufactured by the assessees was classifiable as rapid hardening cement under the specified tariff entry or as white cement under the other entry, and whether ISI specifications, trade parlance, and contemporaneous exposition governed the classification.

Analysis: The tariff for the relevant period contained a specified entry for gray portland cement and allied varieties, including rapid hardening cement, and an other entry for goods not covered by the specified entry. The expression "Gray" was held to qualify the whole specified entry, and the placement of white cement in the tariff after 1-3-1992 as a separate heading was treated as confirming that white cement was not earlier covered by the specified entry. ISI specifications were held to be only one aid to classification and not the sole test; where the goods were known in the market as white cement and were identified as such in technical bulletins and on the bags, trade parlance prevailed over a selective reliance on technical properties. The plea based on contemporaneous exposition was rejected because the later notifications did not control the tariff classification for the earlier period.

Conclusion: The product was classifiable as white cement under the other entry for the period prior to 1-3-1992 and not as rapid hardening cement under the specified entry.

Ratio Decidendi: In tariff classification, trade/commercial parlance is the primary test, while technical specifications such as ISI standards are only ancillary aids and cannot override the market identity of the goods where the tariff does not specifically enumerate the article.

---