Exemption under advance licence and DEEC certificate upheld where imported polypropylene matched authorised use and later policy norms could not be read in

Imported polypropylene was covered by the advance licence and DEEC certificate for manufacture of fishing nets, and the exemption under Notification No. 204/92-Cus. was therefore available. The evidence of the academic expert was accepted as reliable, and the licence and DEEC certificate were read together to confirm that the goods matched the authorised description. Customs could not import later policy restrictions into a licence issued earlier, because the amended norms were not incorporated into the licence and no specific polypropylene grade was prescribed. Denial of clearance was accordingly unsustainable.

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Issues: Whether the imported polypropylene was covered by the advance licence and DEEC certificate so as to qualify for exemption under Notification No. 204/92-Cus. dated 19-5-1995.

Analysis: The imported material was held to be usable for manufacture of fishing nets, and the evidence of the academic expert was accepted as reliable. The notification condition requiring the imported material to be covered by the DEEC certificate was therefore satisfied. The licence was issued in 1993 and later amended, but the amended policy norms were not incorporated into the licence, and the Customs authorities could not read into it a restriction that was not expressed. Since the licence itself did not specify a particular grade of polypropylene, the import could not be denied merely by applying later policy norms. The licence and DEEC certificate were to be read together, and the identical specifications in both supported coverage of the goods.

Conclusion: The benefit of the exemption notification was available and the denial of clearance was unsustainable.

Ratio Decidendi: Customs cannot deny exemption where the imported goods are covered by the licence and DEEC certificate, and later policy restrictions not incorporated into the licence cannot be imposed to defeat the exemption.

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