Import licence exemption for manufacturer's tyres accepted under public notice covering parts and spares of consumer durables.

Tyres imported by a scooter manufacturer were treated as consumer goods, but the decisive question was whether the public notice permitting import of accessories, components, parts and spares for consumer durables by a manufacturer covered such tyres. Earlier decisions classifying tyres as consumer goods were not determinative because they did not address that public notice. Applying the principle accepted for parts of motor vehicles, the tribunal held the notice extended to the tyres in question. The tyres were therefore importable by the manufacturer without a licence, and confiscation under clause (d) of Section 111 did not survive.

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Issues: Whether tyres imported by a scooter manufacturer could be imported without a licence under the import policy and public notice governing consumer goods.

Analysis: Tyres were accepted as consumer goods, but the controlling question was whether the public notice permitting import of accessories, components, parts and spares of consumer durables by a manufacturer extended to such tyres. Earlier decisions treating tyres as consumer goods did not consider that public notice. The decision applying the public notice to parts of motor vehicles furnished the governing principle, and that reasoning was held applicable to the tyres in question.

Conclusion: The tyres were permissible for import by the manufacturer without a licence, and confiscation under clause (d) of Section 111 did not survive.

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