TMI Blog1996 (7) TMI 344X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... inter alia included products of the paper printing industry. By the Finance Act, 1987, with effect from 1-3-1987, the words `products of the paper printing industry were substituted by words `products of the printing industry . The appellants therefore, filed the said classification lists in respect of the said printed labels manufactured from all the above base materials classifying the said labels under sub-heading 4901.90 as Other products of the printing industry . By a show cause notice dated 13th October, 1987, issued by the Assistant Collector of Central Excise, Bombay Division III, the appellants were called upon to show cause as to why the said printed labels should not be reclassified under different sub-headings depending upon the base materials used in the manufacture of the said printed labels viz. the following :- Sl. No. Base Material Proposed Classification 1. Plastic 3919.00 2. Paper 4817.10 3. Textile Material (cloth) 5905.10 (or) 5905.20 4. Aluminium 7613.90 By their reply dated 15th December, 1987, the appellants contended that the said printed ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... purpose of what is printed upon them and they are not mere adjuncts of items or products on which these labels are affixed. In this connection, they refer to Note 2 to Section VII of the Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985 which states that `except for the goods of Heading 39.18 or 39.19, plastic, rubber and articles thereof, printed with motifs, characters or pictorial representations which are not merely incidental to the primary use of the goods, fall in Chapter 49 . They also referred to Note 2 to Section VII of the HSN Explanatory Notes which is identical in wording to Note 2 of Section VII of the Central Excise Tariff Act. Ld. Counsel further submitted that Heading 49.01 of the 1987-88 Central Excise Tariff covers : Printed books, newspapers, pictures and other products of the printing industry and draws our attention to Heading 4901.10 covering decalcomanias and submitted that since labels are nothing but decalcomanias, they are covered under Chapter 49. Our attention has also been drawn to the judgment of the Hon ble Supreme Court in the case of Rollatainers reported in 1994 (72) E.L.T. 793 (S.C.) = Judgments Today 1994 (4) SC 438 in support of their argument that since their ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n application for which it is meant, i.e. packaging of goods. The printing bears no relation to the work of the wrapping paper viz. the work of packaging or wrapping. That printing can as well be dispensed with the wrapping paper or the carton would still be good as wrapping paper or carton. It is not so with these printed aluminium labels. 20. It is the printing that gives the aluminium labels their use; without the printing they carry on them, the aluminium sheets or plates would not be labels and their attachment to other products would serve no purpose and, indeed, no one would attach them to their products. Therefore, the printed matter carried by the labels serves as a reading matter that forms the very substance of their utility and use. If the labels are not in position, the product to which they are meant to be attached or affixed would lose, in their customer overture, a vital component as might happen when a potential customer is deprived of information that he may require to have if he is to weigh his preferences about selection of the product. His actual purchase of the product or rejection of it may depend on what he reads in the label. The label does for the produc ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... emain permanently fixed, it is not because of the service that the printed label provides to the equipment or to its owner but because it may carry certain information which is useful to anyone who uses it. That information could as easily have been stamped on the body of the electric motor itself or on the body of the transformer, as they are stamped on shirts or as the size is embossed on shoes. We must not be deceived into reading the printed aluminium labels as products of printing simply because the information they carry may be vital. The information qualifies not the aluminium label but the equipment that it (label) is affixed to. We see the same phenomenon when we look at a paper packet that packs cigarettes indicating the quality, the size and the manufacturers etc. etc., or when we buy a bottle of medicine and read on the carton the year of manufacture, the date of expiry and so on. The information that the carton or the medicine label has is just as vital as the information the aluminium label carries, but that information relates not to the label or the carton but to the contents or machine which a customer buys; in so doing he has to also buy the wrapper, the carton, t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... printing industry. The facts in the above case are more akin to the facts of the present appeal then the facts before the Hon ble Supreme Court in case of Rollatainers Ltd. Another where the issue decided was only whether printed cartons were the products of printing industry as such exempt from duty under Notification No. 55/75, in which the Supreme Court has held that cartons remain products of the packing industry even after printing is undertaken on them. Further the order of the Tribunal in the appellants own case - Final Order No. E/70/95-B1, dated 13-3-1995 reported in 1995 (78) E.L.T. 193 (Tribunal) also holds that printed labels are not products of printing industry although the issue of classification of printed labels was not decided, as there was no dispute before the Bench in regard to classification. Following the ratio of the above orders, we hold that printed plastic labels are not the products of the printing industry and not classifiable under sub-heading 49.01 as self adhesive strips but under sub-heading 39.19 which covers self-adhesive, plates, sheets, film foil, tape, strip and other flat shapes of plastics whether or not in rolls . The decision of the Tri ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... printed on this paper backing. The printed paper is then covered with several coats of opaque white ink that will not be seen after application. The decal is finished with a coat of water-soluble glue called stickative. When the decal is moistened and applied to the object to which it adheres, the moistened backing paper is removed; and the design becomes permanently affixed. The stickative becomes water resistant soon after application. Decals intended to be applied to windows are printed in reverse order. The layers of opaque white ink are printed first and the design is printed last in order to be seen when in contact with the glass. Decals for chine and kitchen ranges are printed with mineral colours and are fired to resist heat. The term decalcomania has a specific application in mid 20th Century art, Paper is covered with gouache, an opaque watercolour paint. It is then pressed against canvass or another piece of paper and then removed, yielding exotic designs reminiscent of fungi or colonies of sponge. The German-born Surrealist artist Max Ernst (1891) used at his technique in his paintings." From the above it would be seen that decals are transfers and cannot be equa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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