Composite machine classification failed where a decorating unit was separately classifiable as flexographic printing and denied notification benefit.

Mere complementary use in a production line was insufficient to treat a decorating unit and an injection blow moulding machine as one composite machine; the tariff notes required the machines to be fitted together as a whole by incorporation, mounting on one another, or on a common base, frame or housing. As that condition was not met, the units had to be assessed separately. The decorating unit's principal function was flexographic printing, so it fell under heading 8443.30 rather than injection moulding. It was therefore not a coding or marking machine and did not qualify for the benefit of Notification No. 125/86-Cus.

---

---

Issues: Whether the decorating unit imported along with the injection blow moulding machine was to be treated as part of a composite machine and classified with the main machine, or whether it was a separate machine classifiable under heading 8443.30 with no benefit of Notification No. 125/86-Cus.>

Analysis: The imported equipment consisted of a press blower injection blow moulding machine and a decorating unit, both working in conjunction to produce decorated tubes. Mere complementary use or continuous operation in a production line was held insufficient to constitute a single composite machine. The relevant tariff notes require the machines to be fitted together to form a whole, such as by incorporation, mounting on one another, or mounting on a common base, frame, or housing. Since that criterion was not satisfied, the two units were required to be assessed separately. On classification, the decorating unit's principal function was flexographic printing and not injection moulding. It therefore fell under heading 8443.30. As it was not a coding or marking machine, it was not covered by Sl. No. 21 of Notification No. 125/86-Cus.

Conclusion: The decorating unit was not a composite part of the moulding machine, was correctly classifiable as a separate flexographic printing machine under heading 8443.30, and was not entitled to the claimed notification benefit.

---