TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2009 (8) TMI 110
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....ered into with the foreign suppliers, registered with the Customs House through which said goods were to be imported in the manner stipulated in the said Regulations. The petitioners accordingly on or about 29th January, 1991 submitted 18 such contracts to the 2nd Respondent for registration. Imports in respect of ten sub-contracts are to be covered by REP licences procured by the petitioners in the normal course of business under which the goods covered by those ten contracts are eligible to be imported. The petitioner, furnished the necessary details as required under the Regulations to the 2nd Respondents so as to enable 2nd Respondent to take steps to register the contracts. The respondent no. 2 refused to register the ten contracts on the ground that the said goods require specific licence for availing benefit of project imports in terms of Regulations 5(4) of the said Regulations and further that the REP licence produced by the petitioners were not specific. According to the petitioners, the said Regulations do not require any such specific licence to avail of the benefit of project import. Refusal therefore on the part of the respondent is arbitrary without jurisdiction a....
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.... To answer the issue we may gainfully refer to the Regulations of 1986 which are known as the Project Import Regulations, 1986. Section 2 of the Regulations sets out that these regulations apply for the assessment and clearance of goods falling under Heading No. 98.01 of the First Schedule of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975. Regulation 4 sets out that assessment under Heading 98.01 shall be available only to those goods which are imported against one or more specific contracts which have been registered to the appropriate Customs House in the manner specified in Regulation 5 and such contracts have been registered before any order is made by the proper officer of Customs permitting the clearance of Customs and the other requirements set out therein. As Regulation 5 is the relevant regulation for our consideration, we must gainfully reproduce the relevant portion thereof. 5. Registration of contracts. - (1) Every importer claiming assessment of the goods falling under the said heading No. 98.01 on or before their importation shall apply in writing to the proper officer at the port where the goods are to be imported or where the duty is to be paid for registration of the contract or ....
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....AM 1988-91 : "177. (1) Within the above flexibility, the REP licenses can be utilised for import of items listed in Appendices 3 Part A, 3 Part B and 5 Part A of this policy subject to the following conditions : (i) Import of a single item shall not exceed 10% of the overall flexibility, subject to a maximum of Rs. 10 Lakhs; (ii) In case 10% of the flexibility, as per sub-para (i) above, works out to an amount less than Rs. 1 Lakh, import of a single item may be allowed for a value upto Rs. 1 Lakh within the value of the license, provided this value of Rs. 1 Lakh is otherwise covered by the overall flexibility permitted as above. (iii) Where the total flexibility allowed itself works out to an amount which is less than Rs. 1 Lakh, the full flexibility can be availed of for import of a single item. (2) Within the value of the flexibility allowed as above, the REP license can also be utilized for import of capital goods without the recommendation of the sponsoring authority and without indigenous clearan....
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....e project. I now propose to introduce a new tariff item to cover the import of equipment needed for the initial setting up of new projects or for undertaking substantial expansions of existing projects, in the fields of industry, power, mining and prospecting for minerals oil. Not only complete equipment but also component parts and raw materials imported specifically for fabricating equipment within India for a project, and some quantity of initial stock of spare parts and other stores needed for the maintenance of the project can be imported under this item. The contract or contracts would have to be registered in advance with the Customs authorities and a provisional assessment will be made immediately, obviating to the maximum possible extent the need for detailed assessment of individual lots, after the goods arrive. The equipment imported under the item will be charged to duty at the general machinery rate and I am confident that the administrative improvement will facilitate the smooth import of such equipment and also give some encouragement to the manufacture within the India as much as possible of the equipment needed for these projects." 8. Considering this object the....
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.... The only distinction is in the import licence. The various items would be described as seen in the annexures annexed by the respondent to their reply. In so far as REP licence is concerned, no such description is given as that licence is issued under different circumstances and is transferrable and can be used either as replinshment licence or for import of any other capital goods and the like. Obviously in such circumstances, REP licence can never include any item. That is why under Paragraph No. 177 reference is made to items listed in Appendices 3 Part A, 3 Part B and 5 Part A. If so seen the expression "wherever required" would have to be read in the context that in a case where a person seeks to import licence or a REP licence then there is no need for Import Trade Control Licence. 'The expression "specifically describing the article licenced to be registered" must be read in the context of the Import Trade Control Licence and not of "REP licence". In our opinion, considering the language of Regulation 5(4) the said regulation will have to be read to mean that if contracts entered into are registered with then the import can be done either under an Import Trade Control licenc....