Tariff classification of polyvinyl alcohol turns on commercial meaning of "alcohol" and its treatment as an excisable polymer.

Polyvinyl alcohol was treated as a resinous polymer and organic chemical produced by a multi-stage process, and was classifiable under Tariff Item 15A as a synthetic resin/polymerisation product, making it excisable. The exclusion in Tariff Item 68 for "alcohol, all sorts" was read in its ordinary commercial sense as covering alcoholic liquors, spirits and beverages, not every substance described as an alcohol in chemistry. On that basis, polyvinyl alcohol did not fall within Tariff Item 68 and was not excluded by the word "alcohol"; the department's appeal succeeded.

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Issues: (i) Whether polyvinyl alcohol was an excisable commodity classifiable under Tariff Item 15A of the Central Excise Tariff. (ii) Whether polyvinyl alcohol fell under Tariff Item 68 or stood excluded by the expression "alcohol, all sorts".

Issue (i): Whether polyvinyl alcohol was an excisable commodity classifiable under Tariff Item 15A of the Central Excise Tariff.

Analysis: Polyvinyl alcohol was found to be an organic chemical produced by a multi-stage process in which vinyl acetate is polymerised to polyvinyl acetate and then hydrolysed to yield polyvinyl alcohol. On the material before it, the product was described in technical literature as a water-soluble polymer and also as a resinous polymer belonging to the family of organic polymers. Tariff Item 15A covered synthetic resins and polymerisation products, including polyvinyl derivatives, and the product answered that description.

Conclusion: Yes. Polyvinyl alcohol was classifiable under Tariff Item 15A and was excisable.

Issue (ii): Whether polyvinyl alcohol fell under Tariff Item 68 or stood excluded by the expression "alcohol, all sorts".

Analysis: The exclusion in Tariff Item 68 had to be understood in the sense in which "alcohol" is ordinarily used in common and trade parlance, namely alcoholic liquors, spirits and beverages, and not every technically describable alcohol in chemistry. Entry 84 of List I of the Seventh Schedule and the corresponding exclusion in Tariff Item 68 were read in that commercial sense. Polyvinyl alcohol, being an organic chemical and not an alcoholic liquor or beverage, did not fall within the exclusion clause of Tariff Item 68.

Conclusion: No. Polyvinyl alcohol was not covered by Tariff Item 68 and was not excluded by the words "alcohol, all sorts".

Final Conclusion: The product was held to be an excisable resinous polymer falling under Tariff Item 15A, and the department's appeal succeeded.

Ratio Decidendi: In tariff classification, technical chemical nomenclature does not control where the statute uses a word in its ordinary commercial sense; an exclusion for "alcohol" covers alcoholic liquors and similar goods, not organic chemicals merely because they are alcohols in a scientific sense.

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