The Union Budget for the year 2010-11 presented by the Finance Minister in the Parliament has decided to amend Notification No. 21/2002-Customs dated 1.3.2002. Presently specified road construction machinery items like Hot Mix Plant, Electronic Paver Finisher, Paverfinisher, Surface dressing equipment, Slurry seal machine, Kerb laying machine, Mobile bridge inspection, Mechanical broom with blower, Toll collection and traffic control equipment, Electronic Total station instrument for topographic survey, Global Positioning System, Stone crushing plants, Concrete batching plants, Hydraulically operated self propelled piling rig with accessories, Hydraulically operated rough terrain self propelled 100 tons crane with telescopic boom, Hydraulically operated self propelled soil boring equipment, Mobile concrete pump placer, Automatic asphalt extraction equipment, Fully automatic, hydraulically operated, pre-cast segment moulds, Hydraulic gantry crane of 100 tonnes for launching truss and Skid steer loaders are presently fully exempted from customs duty subject to conditions that the importer shall use the imported goods exclusively for construction of roads and that the importer shall not sell or otherwise dispose of the goods, in any manner, for a period of five years from the date of their importation in terms of Condition No. 40 of Notification No.21/2002-Customs dated 1.3.2002. The condition has now been relaxed by way of an amendment to Notification No. 21/2002-Customs dated 1.3.2002 which allows the sale or disposal of such machinery items on payment of customs duties on depreciated value at the rate of duty applicable at the time of import. The amendment also permits relocation or re-deployment of the machinery imported under the exemption to another road construction project for which the importer would have been otherwise eligible to claim the benefit of the exemption.. In order to claim this benefit, the importer is required to produce a certificate from the sponsoring authority that the equipment is no longer required for the project.

This amendment to Notification No.21/2002-Customs dated 1.3.2002 has now put to rest a vexed issue initiated by the Customs department on the ground that the imported machinery may be used only for the project for which it was initially imported and cannot be sold before the expiry of five years period from the date of import. It is hoped that this amendment will result in quick disposal of a number of litigations pending at various judicial and quasi-judicial appellate forums.

This amendment will also be a shot in the arm to the infrastructure development industry and will speed up the execution of various infrastructure projects in the country as the conditions which prevailed in the said notification before the amendment had resulted in the idling of machinery/ equipment.