Machine-assisted preparatory steps did not make hand-made paper biris classifiable as machine-made under the tariff entry.

Paper biris made by hand were held classifiable under sub-heading 2404.39 because the machine-assisted cutting of tissue paper and printing of labels occurred outside the assessee's premises and did not form part of the manufacture of the biris themselves. Cutting tissue paper into smaller sizes was treated only as preparation of a separate marketable raw material for hand-rolling, while printing labels created another distinct commodity; hand affixing of those labels did not make the biri manufacture machine-assisted. The tariff phrase covering biris manufactured with the aid of machines was confined to processes directly involved in production and did not extend to merely preparatory steps connected with manufacture.

---

---

Issues: Whether paper biris made by hand, where cutting of tissue paper and printing of labels were done outside the assessee's premises with machines, were classifiable under tariff sub-heading 2404.31 as biris manufactured with the aid of machines, or under tariff sub-heading 2404.39 as biris manufactured without the aid of machines.

Analysis: The decisive question was whether the machine-assisted cutting of paper and printing of labels constituted a process in the manufacture of biris. The relevant tariff entry covered only biris in the manufacture of which any process had been conducted with the aid of machines. The Tribunal held that cutting larger tissue paper into smaller sizes merely prepared a separate marketable raw material for hand-rolling and did not itself amount to a process in making biris. Likewise, printing labels produced another distinct marketable commodity, and affixing those labels by hand did not make the biri manufacture machine-assisted. The expression in the tariff did not extend to preparatory processes merely connected with or in relation to manufacture. The precedent concerning fire-works was distinguished because, there, the machine-assisted processes were found to be directly involved in the manufacture of the final product.

Conclusion: The paper biris were correctly classifiable under sub-heading 2404.39, not under sub-heading 2404.31, and the assessee succeeded on the classification issue.

---