Smuggling - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition smuggling

Definition :

Smuggling, the offence of importing prohibited Articles, or of defrauding the revenue by the introduction of Articles into consumption without paying the duties chargeable upon them. It may be committed indifferently either upon the excise or customs revenue.

The crime of importing or exporting illegal articles or articles on which duties have not been paid, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 1394.

Smuggling is restrained by the statutes relating to the Customs, and in particular by the Customs Consolidation Act, 1876.

In relation to any goods, means any act or omission which will render such goods liable to confiscation under s. 111 or s. 113. [Customs Act, 1962 (52 of 1962), s. 2 (39)]

The general concept of smuggling contains two elements: one, the bringing into India of goods the import of which is prohibited; and two, the bringing, into the country's trade stream, of goods the import of which is permitted without paying the customs duties with which they are chargeable. The second eventuality can occur not only where there is a clandestine import evading the assessment of duty but also where there is a clandestine removal without payment of the assessed duty. In a case where the goods are warehoused under s. 49 and they are clandestinely removed, there would be 'smuggling' as the duties payable thereon have been evaded altogether. The mere fact that the goods have been ostensibly cleared, after assessment of duty, to a warehouse does not preclude the applicability of the concept of smuggling even in such a case, N.K. Bapna v. Union of India (1992) 3 SCC 512: (1992) 3 SCR 267.

S. 2(39) of the Customs Act defines 'smuggling' in relation to any goods as meaning any act or omission which will render such goods liable to confiscation under s. 111 or s. 113 of the Customs Act. It is not disputed that the relevant provision is clause (o) of s. 111 which provides as follows: 's. 111. The following goods brought from a place outside India shall be liable to confiscation. Any goods exempted, subject to any condition from duty or any prohibition in respect of the import thereof under this Act or any other law for the time being in force, in respect of which a condition is not observed unless the non-observance of the condition was sanctioned by the proper officer.' In view of clause (o) of s. 111, if any goods exempted from payment of duty is imported without observing the condition, subject to which the exemption has been made, it will be a case of smuggling within the meaning of s. 2(e) of the COFEPOSA Act, 1974, Madan Lal Anand v. Union of India, AIR 1990 SC 176: (1990) 1 SCC 81: (1989) Supp 1 SCR 733.