Import under Open General Licence depends on prior contract registration before goods enter Indian territorial waters.

For Open General Licence imports, the requirement of prior registration of the import contract was construed with reference to the Customs Act definition of import, under which import is effected when goods enter Indian territorial waters. Registration completed before that point satisfied paragraph 12 read with paragraph 11 of the import conditions. The Handbook of Procedure did not alter that construction on the facts, so the alleged breach of import conditions was not established and the import could not be treated as unauthorised on that ground; the confiscation order was set aside.

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Issues: Whether registration of the import contract under the Open General Licence conditions had to be completed before the goods entered Indian territorial waters, and whether the import was invalid for alleged non-compliance with paragraph 12 of the import conditions.

Analysis: Paragraph 12 had to be read with paragraph 11 of the conditions governing import under Open General Licence. The relevant policy required registration of the contract before import was effected, and the expression "import" was construed with reference to Section 2(23) and Section 2(27) of the Customs Act, 1962. On that construction, import is effected when goods enter Indian territorial waters. Since the contract had been registered before the goods entered territorial waters, the condition was satisfied. The reference to the Handbook of Procedure did not alter this result, as it was not decisive of the validity of the import in the facts of the case.

Conclusion: The alleged contravention of the import conditions was not established, and the import could not be treated as unauthorised on that ground.

Final Conclusion: The appeal succeeded and the confiscation order was set aside.

Ratio Decidendi: For the purpose of import conditions requiring prior registration, import is effected when goods enter Indian territorial waters, and registration completed before that point satisfies the condition.

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