Flush door classification under excise tariff confirmed for doors with plywood faces and PVC skins, despite decorative surface features.

Classification turned on the manufactured character of the door: a wooden core faced with plywood and PVC skins applied by vacuum forming, gluing and pressing remained substantially a flush door. The added PVC design features, protrusions and recessions did not change the essential nature of the product, and the article did not fit any other recognised door category. On that basis, the goods were classified as flush doors under sub-heading 4410.11 of the Central Excise Tariff, rather than as doors of wood under sub-heading 4410.19.

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Issues: Whether the door manufactured by the assessee was correctly classifiable as a flush door under sub-heading 4410.11 of the Schedule to the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985, or as a door of wood under sub-heading 4410.19.

Analysis: The relevant inquiry was the nature of the goods as manufactured. The manufacturing process showed a wooden core with plywood faces and PVC skins applied by vacuum forming, gluing and pressing, followed by assembly and trimming. The fact that the PVC skins created designs, protrusions or recessions did not alter the basic character of the product when the process remained substantially that of a flush door. The product also did not fit any other recognised category of doors, and the cited construction literature supported classification as a flush door where the core is faced on both sides and concealed by the outer faces.

Conclusion: The goods were held to be flush doors and classifiable under sub-heading 4410.11, not under sub-heading 4410.19.

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