Tariff classification of reclaimed rubber turns on whether it is a rubber product or merely raw material under the residuary entry.

Reclaimed rubber made from scrap rubber, even when produced in plates, sheets or strips, is not classifiable as a rubber product under Tariff Item 16A of the erstwhile Central Excise Tariff. The governing test was whether the goods were products made out of rubber or only rubber raw material; reclaimed rubber sheets were understood as raw material for making rubber goods, not as finished rubber products. The later view treating sheet-form manufacture as sufficient was rejected because it did not first establish that the goods answered the description of rubber products. The article states that such goods fall under the residuary Tariff Item 68.

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Issues: Whether reclaimed rubber manufactured from scrap rubber, in the form of plates, sheets or strips, is classifiable as a rubber product under Tariff Item 16A of the erstwhile Central Excise Tariff or as a residuary item under Tariff Item 68.

Analysis: Tariff Item 16A covered rubber products, including plates, sheets and strips unhardened, but reclaimed rubber as such was not specifically named. The decisive question was whether the goods were rubber products made out of rubber or merely rubber raw material. The Tribunal followed the reasoning that reclaimed rubber sheets, though produced by a manufacturing process, are sold and understood as raw material for making rubber goods and not as products made out of rubber. The later view treating the goods as falling under Item 16A was not accepted, as it did not correctly address the governing reasoning in the earlier decision and treated the presence of sheet-form manufacture as sufficient without first establishing that the goods were rubber products within Item 16A.

Conclusion: Reclaimed rubber, in whatever form, is not classifiable under Tariff Item 16A and falls under Tariff Item 68 of the erstwhile Central Excise Tariff. The appeal succeeds in favour of the Revenue.

Ratio Decidendi: For classification under a tariff entry covering rubber products, the goods must first be shown to be products made out of rubber; goods that are themselves only rubber raw material do not fall within that entry and go to the residuary classification.

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