Imports

Served From India Scheme (SFIS)

1. ARRIVAL OF GOODS AND PROCEDURES PRIOR TO LODGEMENT OF GOODS

(a) Conveyances to call only at Notified Customs Ports / Airports (b) Power to board conveyance, to question and to demand documents (c) Delivery of Import Manifest (d) General Conditions (e) Amendments (f) Penal Liability (g) Entry Inwards (h) Enclosures to Import General Manifest (i) Procedure for filing IGM at Custom Houses operating EDI service centres (j) Filing of Stores List (j) Unloading and Loading of Goods (j) Other liabilities of carriers

PROCEDURE FOR CLEARANCE OF IMPORTED GOODS)

(a) Bill of Entry – Declaration (b) Assessment (c) EDI Assessment (d) Examination of Goods (e) Green Channel facility (f) Payment of Duty (g) Amendment of Bill of Entry (h) Prior Entry for Bill of Entry (i) Mother Vessel/Feeder vessel

CONVEYANCES TO CALL ONLY AT NOTIFIED CUSTOMS PORTS / AIRPORTS:

Customs Act, 1962, envisages that only places notified by the Government shall be Customs ports or Customs airports for the unloading of imported goods and loading of export goods. At each such customs ports, the Commissioner of Customs is empowered to approve proper places for the unloading and loading of goods and he also specifies the limits of any Customs area. The law further provides that the person in charge of the vessel or an aircraft shall not call or land at any place other than the Customs port/airport, except in cases of emergencies.

POWER TO BOARD CONVEYANCE, TO QUESTION AND TO DEMAND DOCUMENTS

He may remain on board as long as he decides to remain. The proper officer may question the person in charge of the vessel or aircraft. He may demand production of documents and also ask questions, to be answered by such person.

DELIVERY OF IMPORT MANIFEST:

The Master / Agent of the vessel or an aircraft has to deliver an import manifest (an import report in case of a vehicle), within 24 hours after arrival in the case of a vessel and 12 hours after arrival in the case of an aircraft or a vehicle in the prescribed form. The time limit for filing the manifest is extendable on showing sufficient cause. In the case of a vessel or an aircraft, a manifest may also be filed even before arrival of the vessel or aircraft (known as Prior Entry Manifest). In the case of vessels, for administrative convenience, such advance manifests are accepted on any day within 14 days before the expected arrival of the vessel. If the vessel does not arrive within the stipulated time of 14 days or such extended time as may be granted by the Assistant Commissioner (Imports), the manifest accepted provisionally is cancelled and the fact circulated through public notices. All the Bills of Entry filed against the cancelled manifest, become void. The importers have to return those Bills of Entry to the Import Department and to claim refund of duty, if paid on any such Bills of Entry. If the same vessel enters the port after the cancellation of the original manifests, it will be treated as a fresh entry and a fresh manifest is insisted upon.

GENERAL CONDITIONS:

A person filing declarations under this section has to declare the truthfulness of contents. This declaration has legal consequences, which bind the carrier.

AMENDMENTS:

If for any reason, the carrier desires to amend or supplement the IGM, it will be permitted by the proper officer on payment of prescribed fees, if he is satisfied that there is no fraudulent intention behind the move.

PENAL LIABILITY:

Any mis-declaration in this document will attract the penal provisions.

ENTRY INWARDS:

The Master of the vessel is not to permit the unloading of any imported goods until an order has been given by the proper officer granting Entry Inwards of such vessel. Normally, Entry Inwards is granted only after the import manifest has been delivered. This entry inward date is crucial for determining the rate of duty, as provided in section 15 of the Customs Act, 1962. Unloading of certain items like accompanied baggage, mail bags, animals, perishables and hazardous goods are exempted from this stipulation.

ENCLOSURES TO IMPORT GENERAL MANIFEST:

The amendment made in 1995 (w.e.f. 1-7-1995) introduces a new form for obtaining entry inwards. The forms are designed according to IMO-FAL Convention. The forms have to be filed in prescribed sizes only. Host of enclosures are sought along with these forms. This practice has its origin in other statutes such as Merchant Shipping Act, 1880. However, keeping the said convention in view, Board has issued instructions dispensing with submission of various documents. The following declarations have, however, to be filed along-with IGM (a)Deck Cargo Declaration / Certificate. (b)Last port clearance copy. (c)Amendment application (when relevant). (d)Income Tax Certificate in case of Export Cargo. (e)Nil export cargo certificate. (f)Port Trust “No Demand” certificate. (g)Immigration certificate. (h)Application for sign on/sign off of crew (when relevant). (i)Application for crew baggage chceking when they sign on (When relevant).

FILING OF STORES LIST:

When entering any port, all ships are required to furnish to the Commissioner of Customs, a list (or nil return) of ships stores intended for landing (excluding any consumable stores issued from any dutified shops in. Retention on board of imported stores is governed by Import Store (Retention on board) Regulations, 1963. The consumable stores can remain on board without payment of import duties during the period the vessel/Aircraft remains foreign going. Otherwise, such consumable stores are to be kept under Customs seal. Even in respect of foreign going vessels, only the stores required for immediate use of the personnel may be left unsealed. Excessive stocks of stores such as liquor, tobacco, cigarettes, etc are kept under Customs seal.

UNLOADING AND LOADING OF GOODS:

Imported goods are not to be unloaded from the vessel until Entry Inwards is granted. No imported goods are to be unloaded unless they are specified in the import manifest/report for being unloaded at that Customs station. No imported goods shall be unloaded at any place other than the places provided for such unloading. Further, imported goods shall not be unloaded from any conveyance except under the supervision of the proper officer. Similarly, for unloading imported goods on any Sunday or on any holiday, prior notice shall be given and fees prescribed in this regard shall be paid. (a)A conveyance within Indian waters or port or customs area which is adopted, fitted, modified or altered for concealing goods. (b)A conveyance from which goods are thrown overboard, staved or destroyed so as to prevent seizure by customs officers. (c)A conveyance which disobeys any order under Section 106 to stop or land, without sufficient cause. (d)A conveyance from which goods under drawback claim are unloaded without proper officer’s permission. (e)A conveyance which has entered with goods, from which substantial portion of goods are missing and failure of the master to account therefor.

PROCEDURE FOR CLEARANCE OF IMPORTED GOODS

Goods imported in a vessel/aircraft attract customs duty and unless these are not meant for customs clearance at the port/airport of arrival by particular vessel/aircraft and are intended for transit by the same vessel/aircraft or transhipment to another customs station or to any place outside India, detailed customs clearance formalities of the landed goods have to be followed by the importers. In regard to the transit goods, so long as these are mentioned in import report/IGM for transit to any place outside, Customs allows transit without payment of duty. Similarly for goods brought in by particular vessel/aircraft for transhipment to another customs station detailed customs clearance formalities at the port/airport of landing are not prescribed and simple transhipment procedure has to be followed by the carrier and the concerned agencies. The customs clearance formalities have to be complied with by the importer after arrival of the goods at the other customs station. There could also be cases of transhipment of the goods after unloading to a port outside India. Here also simpler procedure for transhipment has been prescribed by regulations, and no duty is required to be paid. (Sections 52 to 56 of the Customs are relevant in this regard) (a) Signed invoice   (b) Packing list   (c) Bill of Lading or Delivery Order/Airway Bill   (d) GATT declaration form duly filled in   (e) Importers/CHA’s declaration   (f) License wherever necessary   (g) Letter of Credit/Bank Draft/wherever necessary   (h) Insurance document   (i) Industrial License, if required   (j) Test report in case of chemicals   (k) Adhoc exemption order   (l) Catalogue, Technical write up, Literature in case of machineries, spares or   (m) chemicals as may be applicable   (n) Separately split up value of spares, components machineries   (o) Certificate of Origin, if preferential rate of duty is claimed   (p) No Commission declaration  

ASSESSMENT:

The basic function of the assessing officer in the appraising groups is to determine the duty liability taking due note of any exemptions or benefits claimed under different export promotion schemes. They have also to check whether there are any restrictions or prohibitions on the goods imported and if they require any permission/ license/permit etc., and if so whether these are forthcoming. Assessment of duty essentially involves proper classification of the goods imported in the customs tariff having due regard to the rules of interpretations, chapter and sections notes etc., and determining the duty liability. It also involves correct determination of value where the goods are assessable on ad valorem basis. The assessing officer has to take note of the invoice and other declarations submitted alongwith the bill of entry to support the valuation claim, and adjudge whether the transaction value method and the invoice value claimed for the basis of assessment is acceptable, or value needs to be redetermined having due regard to the provisions of Section 14 and the valuation rules issued thereunder, the case law and various instructions on the subject. He also takes note of the contemporaneous values and other information on valuation available with the Custom House. Where the appraising officer is not very clear about the description of the goods from the document or as some doubts about the proper classification which may be possible only to determine after detailed examination of the nature of the goods or testing of its samples, he may give an examination order in advance of finalisation of assessment including order for drawing of representative sample. This is done generally on the reverse of the original copy of the bill of entry which is presented by the authorized agent of the importer to the appraising staff posted in the Docks/Air Cargo Complexes where the goods are got examined in the presence of the importer’s representative.

EDI ASSESSMENT:

In the EDI system of handling of the documents/declarations for taking import clearances as mentioned earlier the cargo declaration is transferred to the assessing officer in the groups electronically. \The assessing officer processes the cargo declaration on screen with regard to all the parameters as given above for manual process. However in EDI system, all the calculations are done by the system itself. In addition, the system also supplies useful information for calculation of duty, for example, when a particular exemption notification is accepted, the system itself gives the extent of exemption under that notification and calculates the duty accordingly. Similarly, it automatically applies relevant rate of exchange in force while calculating. Thus no comptist is required in EDI system. If assessing officer needs any clarification from the importer, he may raise a query. The query is printed at the service centre and the party replies to the query through the service centre. After assessment, a copy of the assessed bill of entry is printed in the service centre. Under EDI, documents are normally examined at the time of examination of the goods. Final bill of entry is printed after ‘out of charge’ is given by the Custom Officer.In EDI system, in certain cases, the facility of system appraisal is available. Under this process, the declaration of importer is taken as correct and the system itself calculates duty which is paid by the importer. In such case, no assessing officer is involved.

EXAMINATION OF GOODS:

All imported goods are required to be examined for verification of correctness of description given in the bill of entry. However, a part of the consignment is selected on random selection basis and is examined. In case the importer does not have complete information with him at the time of import, he may request for examination of the goods before assessing the duty liability or, if the Customs Appraiser/Assistant Commissioner feels the goods are required to be examined before assessment, the goods are examined prior to assessment. This is called First Appraisement. The importer has to request for first check examination at the time of filing the bill of entry or at data entry stage. The reason for seeking First Appraisement is also required to be given. On original copy of the bill of entry, the Customs Appraiser records the examination order and returns the bill of entry to the importer/CHA with the direction for examination, who is to take it to the import shed for examination of the goods in the shed. Shed Appraiser/Dock examiner examines the goods as per examination order and records his findings. In case group has called for samples, he forwards sealed samples to the group. The importer is to bring back the said bill of entry to the assessing officer for assessing the duty. Appraiser assesses the bill of entry. It is countersigned by Assistant/Deputy Commissioner if the value is more than Rs. 1 lakh. The goods can also be examined subsequent to assessment and payment of duty. This is called Second Appraisement. Most of the consignments are cleared on second appraisement basis. It is to be noted that whole of the consignment is not examined. Only those packages which are selected on random selection basis are examined in the shed.

GREEN CHANNEL FACILITY:

Some major importers have been given the green channel clearance facility. It means clearance of goods is done without routine examination of the goods. They have to make a declaration in the declaration form at the time of filing of bill of entry. The appraisement is done as per normal procedure except that there would be no physical examination of the goods. Only marks and number are to be checked in such cases. However, in rare cases, if there are specific doubts regarding description or quantity of the goods, physical examination may be ordered by the senior officers/investigation wing like SIIB.

PAYMENT OF DUTY:

The duty can be paid in the designated banks or through TR-6 challans. Different Custom Houses have authorised different banks for payment of duty. It is necessary to check the name of the bank and the branch before depositing the duty. Bank endorses the payment particulars in challan which is submitted to the Customs.

AMENDMENT OF BILL OF ENTRY:

Whenever mistakes are noticed after submission of documents, amendments to the of entry is carried out with the approval of Deputy/Assistant Commissioner. The request for amendment may be submitted with the supporting documents. For example, if the amendment of container number is required, a letter from shipping agent is required. Amendment in document may be permitted after the goods have been given out of charge i.e. goods have been cleared on sufficient proof being shown to the Deputy/Assistant Commissioner.

PRIOR ENTRY FOR BILL OF ENTRY:

For faster clearance of the goods, provision has been made in section 46 of the Act, to allow filing of bill of entry prior to arrival of goods. This bill of entry is valid if vessel/aircraft carrying the goods arrive within 30 days from the date of presentation of bill of entry.The importer is to file 5 copies of the bill of entry and the fifth copy is called Advance Noting copy. The importer has to declare that the vessel/aircraft is due within 30 days and they have to present the bill of entry for final noting as soon as the IGM is filed. Advance noting is available to all imports except for into bond bill of entry and also during the special period.

MOTHER VESSEL/FEEDER VESSEL:

Often in case of goods coming by container ships they are transferred at an intermediate ports (like Ceylon ) from mother vessel to smaller vessels called feeder vessels. At the time of filing of advance noting B/E, the importer does not know as to which vessel will finally bring the goods to Indian port. In such cases, the name of mother vessel may be filled in on the basis of the bill of lading. On arrival of the feeder vessel, the bill of entry may be amended to mention names of both mother vessel and feeder vessel.

SPECIALISED SCHEMES:

The import of goods are made under specialised schemes like DEEC or EOU etc. The importer in such cases is required to execute bonds with the Customs authorities for fulfillment of conditions of respective notifications. If the importer fails to fulfill the conditions, he has to pay the duty leviable on those goods. The amount of bond would be equal to the amount of duty leviable on the imported goods. The bank guarantee is also required alongwith the bond. However, the amount of bank guarantee depends upon the status of the importer like Super Star Trading House/Trading House etc.

BILL OF ENTRY FOR BOND/WAREHOUSING:

A separate form of bill of entry is used for clearance of goods for warehousing. All documents as required to be attached with a Bill of Entry for home consumption are also required to be filed with bill of entry for warehousing. The bill of entry is assessed in the same manner and duty payable is determined. However, since duty is not required to be paid at the time of warehousing of the goods, the purpose of assessing the goods at this stage is to secure the duty in case the goods do not reach the warehouse. The duty is paid at the time of ex-bond clearance of goods for which an ex-bond bill of entry is filed. The rate of duty applicable to imported goods cleared from a warehouse is the rate in-force on the date on which the goods are actually removed from the warehouse.

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