Special design controls tariff classification where sewing machine bases are made for exclusive use, not general block board use.

Goods manufactured with a deliberately unfilled gap for fitting a sewing machine were treated as specially designed sewing machine bases, not as ordinary block boards. Their specific design and exclusive intended use were decisive for tariff classification, because the article was not marketable for general block-board use. On that basis, the goods fell outside Heading 4408.90 and were classified under Heading 8452 as sewing machine parts, with consequential relief to the assessee.

---

---

Issues: Whether the goods described as sewing machine furniture were classifiable as block boards under Heading 4408.90 or as bases specially designed for sewing machines under Heading 8452.

Analysis: The goods were manufactured with a gap left in the middle for fitting the sewing machine, and the sample showed a block board-like article with a space deliberately kept unfilled for that purpose. Although the end user had to cut open the space for installation, the decisive feature was that the article was specially manufactured for a particular use and was not marketable as an ordinary block board for any other purpose. The specific design and intended use took the goods outside Heading 44 and brought them within the description of parts specially designed for sewing machines.

Conclusion: The goods were not classifiable as block boards and were correctly classifiable under Heading 8452 as sewing machine parts, in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The lower orders were set aside and the appeal succeeded on the tariff classification issue, with consequential relief.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an article is manufactured with a specific design and unfilled space for exclusive use as a sewing machine base, its tariff classification is governed by that special design and intended use rather than by its general resemblance to a block board.

---