Technical export registration does not make an imported car old; customs exemption and no redemption fine follow.

Registration of an imported vehicle in the exporting country merely for movement from showroom to port is a technical formality and does not make the vehicle an old car for customs purposes. On that basis, a car manufactured and exported shortly after registration was treated as a new car, the benefit of Notification No. 21/2002-Cus. remained available, and confiscation with redemption fine under Section 125 of the Customs Act, 1962 was not sustainable.

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Issues: Whether the imported car, registered in the exporting country for the purpose of transport from showroom to port, could be treated as an old car so as to deny benefit of Notification No. 21/2002-Cus. and sustain confiscation and redemption fine under Section 125 of the Customs Act, 1962.

Analysis: The car was manufactured in April 2008, registered in the United Kingdom in May 2008, and imported on 30.05.2008. The facts showed that the registration was only for movement of the vehicle for export and not for use on public roads. Relying on Circular No. 1/2005-Customs dated 11.01.2005, such registration was treated as a technical formality and did not make the vehicle an old car. The reasoning also followed the view that a vehicle so registered before export remains a new car for customs purposes.

Conclusion: The car was held to be a new car, the benefit of Notification No. 21/2002-Cus. was upheld, confiscation of the vehicle was not sustainable, and no redemption fine was leviable under Section 125 of the Customs Act, 1962.

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