Marketability test bars excise duty where sugar syrup could not lawfully be sold due to artificial sweetener restrictions.

Sugar syrup captively used in cough syrup manufacture was treated as prima facie not marketable because it contained sodium saccharin, and Rule 47 of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Rules barred addition of artificial sweeteners to food. Since goods that fail the marketability test cannot prima facie be treated as excisable, the insistence on pre-deposit of duty and penalty was waived and recovery stayed on that footing.

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Issues: Whether the sugar syrup cleared and captively consumed in the manufacture of cough syrup was prima facie marketable and therefore excisable, so as to justify insistence on pre-deposit of duty and penalty.

Analysis: The product contained sodium saccharin, and Rule 47 of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Rules prohibited the addition of any artificial sweetener to an article of food. On that basis, the article could not, prima facie, be regarded as marketable, since its sale would be contrary to law. If a goods fails the test of marketability, it cannot, prima facie, be treated as excisable. The request for waiver was therefore to be considered on that footing.

Conclusion: The requirement of pre-deposit of duty and penalty was waived and recovery was stayed.

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