IDT Digest for April 4, 2017

Notification: Customs

Customs Cargo service provider shall provide the information regarding arrival and their departure after the clearance of the imported goods to the concerned authority

The Central Board of Excise and Customs vide Notification No. 24/2017-Customs (N.T.) dated March 31, 2017 has amended Regulation No. 6(1) of the Handling of Cargo in Customs Areas Regulations, 2009 dealing with Responsibilities of Customs Cargo Service provider, by inserting new clause (aa) in sub regulation (1) namely;

“(aa) Provide information regarding arrival of the imported goods to the Deputy Commissioner or Assistant Commissioner of Customs immediately on arrival of said goods in the customs area and also information about their departure after the clearance thereof ”

With effect of insertion of this Clause, Customs Cargo Service provider shall be liable to provide information to the Deputy Commissioner or Assistant commissioner of Customs regarding arrival of imported goods in the customs area and subsequent information on the clearance of said imported goods.

Amendment in the Bill of Entry (Electronic Integrated Declaration) Regulations, 2011:

The Central Board of Excise and Customs vide Notification No. 26/2017-Customs (N.T.) dated March 31, 2017 has substituted Regulation No. 4 of the Bill of Entry (Electronic Integrated Declaration) Regulations, 2011 dealing with the time when bill of entry shall be deemed to be filed, with the following words and figures namely;

“Regulation 4. (1) The authorised person shall file the bill of entry before the end of the next day following the day (excluding holidays) on which the aircraft or vessel or vehicle carrying the goods arrives at a customs station at which such goods are to be cleared for home consumption or warehousing.

(2) The bill of entry shall be deemed to have been filed and self-assessment of duty completed when, after entry of the electronic integrated declaration in the Indian Customs Electronic Data Interchange System either through ICEGATE or by way of data entry through the service centre, a bill of entry number is generated by the Indian Customs Electronic Data Interchange System for the said declaration.

(3) Where the bill of entry is not filed within the time specified in sub-regulation (1) and the proper officer of Customs is satisfied that there was no sufficient cause for such delay, the importer shall be liable to pay charges for late presentation of the bill of entry at the rate of rupees five thousand per day for the initial three days of default and at the rate of rupees ten thousand per day for each day of default thereafter:

Provided that where the proper officer is satisfied with the reasons of delay, he may waive off the charges referred to in the second proviso to sub-section (3) of section 46 of the Customs Act, 1962 (52 of 1962).

(4) No charges for late presentation of Bill of Entry shall be liable to be paid where the entry inwards or arrival of cargo, as the case may be, has taken place before the date on which the Finance Bill, 2017 receives the assent of the President.”

Amendment in the Bill of Entry (Forms) Regulations, 1976:

The Central Board of Excise and Customs vide Notification No. 27/2017-Customs (N.T.) dated March 31, 2017 has amended the Bill of Entry (Forms) Regulations, 1976 vide inserting a Regulation No. 4 which stipulate the provisions with regards to period upto which bill of entry to be presented by a importer or a person authorised by him who has a valid licence under the Customs Broker Licensing Regulations, 2013 without late presentation charges.

Amendment in Rule 5 of the Deferred Payment of Import Duty Rules, 2016

The Central Government vide Notification No. 28/2017-Customs (N.T.) dated March 31, 2017 has amended Rule 5 of the Deferred Payment of Import Duty Rules, 2016 dealing with payment of duty by the eligible importer who is permitted to make deferred payment of said duty, by substituting the clause (a) to (d) of said rule with the following clauses;

“(a) for goods corresponding to Bill of Entry returned for payment from 1st day to 15th day of any month, the duty shall be paid by the 16th day of that month;

(b) for goods corresponding to Bill of Entry returned for payment from 16th day till the last day of any month other than March, the duty shall be paid by the 1st day of the following month; and

(c) for goods corresponding to Bill of Entry returned for payment from 16th day till the 31st day of March, the duty shall be paid by the 31st March”.

Amendment in Notification No. 63/1994-Cus (NT), dated November 21, 1994 dealing with Land Customs Stations and Routes for import and export of goods by land or inland water ways

The Central Board of Excise and Customs vide Notification No. 30/2017-Customs (N.T.) dated March 31, 2017 has amended Notification No. 63/1994-Customs (NT), dated November 21, 1994 dealing with Land Customs Stations and Routes for import and export of goods by land or inland water ways, by omitting the entries of Serial No 8 of appended table to said Notification.

Serial No. 8 Specify certain Sub – Foreign Post office, Export Extension Counter, Sub-exchange officer, Sub-exchange office & Foreign Post Office of Exchange for the purpose of for import and export of goods.

The said amendment has been carried out because vide Notification No. 31/2017-Customs (N.T.) dated March 31, 2017 the Central Government has separately notifies Foreign Post Offices for the purpose of Import and Export of goods.

Amendment in Notification No. 69/2011-Customs, dated July 29, 2011 so as to provide deeper tariff concessions in respect of specified goods imported under the India-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IJCEPA), w.e.f. April 01, 2017

The Central Government vide Notification No. 11/2017 – Customs dated March 31, 2017 has amended Notification No. 69/2011 dated July 29, 2011 providing duty concession on specified goods imported into India from Japan.

With effect from April 1, 2017 the Government has provided deeper tariff concessions in respect of specified goods imported under the India-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.

Circular: Customs:

Clarification on newly inserted Rule 47(5) of the Special Economic Zone Rules, 2006

The Department of Commerce vide Notification No. GSR 772(E) dated August 5, 2016 has inserted a Rule 47(5) which stipulates that functional operations like Refund, Demand, Adjudication, Review and Appeal are to be made by jurisdictional Customs and Central Excise authorities in accordance with the relevant provisions contained in the Customs Act, 1962 & the Central Excise Act, 1994 and the Finance Act, 1994.

In this regard, the Central Board of Excise & Customs vide Circular No. 11/2017-Cus dated March 31, 2017 has clarified its position with regards to operationalization of functional operations and who would be the appropriate authority with respect to each function.

Further, the Central Board of Excise & Customs has clarified that for the purpose of calculation of interest in case of delayed payment of refund, he delayed period shall be calculated from the date when such refund claims are received by the jurisdictional Customs, Central Excise or Service Tax officers rather than the period for which it was lying with SEZ authorities.

Furthermore, the Central Board of Excise & Customs has also clarified regarding appropriate authority to demand duty in case a unit opts out of the SEZ scheme.

Clarification regarding legislative changes relating to Customs Act, 1962 which shall be effective from the date of enactment Finance Bill, 2017 :

The Central Board of Excise and Customs (“the Board”) vide Circular No 12/2017 dated March 31, 2017 has clarified the various amendments carried out by Finance Bill 2017 in Section 46 dealing with entry of goods on importation and Section 47 dealing with Clearance of goods for home consumption of the Customs Act 1962.

Section No 46 – Entry of goods on importation:

The amendments in the section are aimed at prescribing a late charge for delayed filing of Bill of Entry (“BoE”). For the purpose of prescribing time limit for filing a BoE without any late fee the board has amended Bill of Entry (Electronic Integrated Declaration) Regulations, 2011 thereby stipulating that the free period for filing a BoE is up to the end of the next day following the day (excluding holidays) of arrival of goods at the place where the clearance for home consumption or warehousing is to take place.

Further, to prescribe late charges for delayed filing the board has amended Bill of Entry (Forms) Regulations, 1976.

Furthermore, it has been clarified by the Board that no charges for late presentation of Bill of Entry shall be applicable where the goods have arrived before the enactment of Finance Bill, 2017.

Customs Cargo Service providers to provide the information about arrival of cargo to the Customs: For deciding late Charges date of arrival of cargo is a very critical point. Therefore the Board has amended Handling of Cargo in Customs Areas Regulations, 2009 so as to make it mandatory for the Customs Cargo Service providers to provide the information about arrival of cargo to the Customs.

Section No 47 – Clearance of goods of home consumption

Manner of payment of Duty and interest thereon: The board has amended section 47(2) of Customs Act 1962 so as to provide the manner of payment of duty and interest thereon in the case of self-assessed BoE or as the case may be assessed, re-assessed, provisionally assessed BoEs. In accordance to amended section 47(2) the importer shall have to make payment of duty on the same day in case of self-assessed BoE and in case of re-assessment or provisional assessment, within one day after the return of BoE.

Further, the board has clarified that BoEs filed on the date of enactment or thereafter shall be subject to the new provisions.

IDT Digest for April 4, 2017

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IDT Digest for April 4, 2017

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