Tool holders classified as tools under the excise tariff; residual entry held inapplicable for machine-tool fittings.

Tool holders designed to be fitted into machine tools and to perform a tool function do not lose their character as tools merely because they are used with replaceable tips or as parts of an assembly. Applying that principle and relying on precedent concerning blanking dies and blanking punches, the Tribunal found the goods answered the description of tools and that lack of an independent function was not decisive. The residual entry was therefore inapplicable, and the tool holders were classified under Tariff Item 51A(iii) rather than Tariff Item 68.

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Issues: Whether the tool holders manufactured by the respondents were classifiable under Tariff Item 51A(iii) as tools or under the residual Tariff Item 68 of the Central Excise Tariff.

Analysis: The Tribunal applied the principle that items designed to be fitted into machine tools and which perform the function of tools do not cease to be tools merely because they are used with replaceable tips or as parts in an assembly. The cited precedent on blanking dies and blanking punches was treated as supporting classification under Tariff Item 51A(iii), since the absence of independent function was not decisive. The goods in question were considered more durable than replaceable tips and were held to answer the description of tools, making resort to the residual entry inapplicable.

Conclusion: The tool holders were held classifiable under Tariff Item 51A(iii) and not under Tariff Item 68, and the respondents' classification under the residual entry was rejected.

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