M/S. ASSOCIATED CEMENT COMPANIES LTD. vs COMNR. OF CUSTOMS — C.A. No. 821/2000

Summary: Associated Cement Companies Ltd. v. Commissioner of Customs The Supreme Court held that imported technical drawings, designs, and manuals constitute "goods" subject to customs duty under the Customs Act and Tariff Act, despite being intellectual property. The Court affirmed that duty is payable on the full transaction value (including intellectual content), not merely on the media's cost, and that the extended five-year limitation period applies where importers wilfully misrepresented values as nominal. However, the Court allowed appeals for two companies where the drawings were classifiable as duty-free under Tariff heading 49.06 or were Indian-originated designs merely approved abroad. This case analysis is maintained by casestatus.in based on publicly available court records.