Project Import relief requires prior contract registration before clearance; without proof of registration, concessional assessment and refund fail.

Project Import relief under Customs Tariff Heading 84.66 depends on strict compliance with the Project Import (Registration of Contract) Regulations, 1965, which require the contract to be registered before clearance of the goods. Where the importer cannot prove that the registration application was received by Customs, and no acknowledgment is produced, the statutory precondition is not met. In such circumstances, concessional assessment under Project Import and any consequential refund claim fail for want of prior registration.

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Issues: Whether the importer was entitled to the benefit of Project Import under Customs Tariff Heading 84.66 and consequential refund when the contract was not shown to have been registered before clearance of the goods.

Analysis: The entitlement to Project Import relief depends on compliance with the Project Import (Registration of Contract) Regulations, 1965, which require registration of the contract prior to clearance of the goods. On the facts, there was no conclusive proof that the application for registration dated 11-12-1985 had been received by the Customs authorities, and no acknowledgment was produced. In the absence of proof of prior registration, the statutory condition for availing the concessional project import rate was not satisfied.

Conclusion: The benefit of Project Import under CTH 84.66 was not available and the refund claim failed.

Final Conclusion: Compliance with the contractual registration requirement was treated as a mandatory precondition for project import relief, and failure to establish such compliance defeated the claim for concessional assessment and refund.

Ratio Decidendi: Project import benefits are available only when the contract is registered before clearance of the goods, and the importer must prove such prior registration.

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