Customs Complications - Board solutions?
RECENTLY Member (Cus & EP) of CBEC, SK Goel chaired a meeting of the Customs Consultative Group in Mumbai. We bring you some of the queries raised and the Member's crisp replies.
Q: A self-certification and post-audit based clearance mechanism should be institutionalized: Akin to several other important economies, Indian Customs can move towards a post-audit mechanism with requisite penalty provisions.
A: On the import side, the RMS and the ACP schemes are already in operation. Further, the Board is currently considering the system of Post Clearance Audit.
Q: Paper copies of all documents are required at Customs: ICD Customs insist on paper documents even at locations where EDI has been implemented. Electronic documents should be accepted by Customs, through modification of Customs Act.
A: Achievement of a paper-less business environment is a long - term goal of the department. Considerable progress has been made in the area of automated processing/exchange of documents. Till such time IT security/authentication features such as digital signature become standardized with widespread use, it will be difficult to completely do away with the requirement of manual documents.
Q: Multiplicity of copies required at Customs should be reduced: Customs authorities insist on submission of up to 6 copies of invoice and 6 copies of packing list, although only one copy each is signed. The requirement should not be excessive.
A: For its own record keeping, the department requires only one copy of the invoice and packing list
Q: System Failure: Very often the EDI System becomes non-functional for 2 to 4 days when we are unable to file any bill of entry or get any assessment activity done which causes undue delay in clearance. Whenever the system do not work for 2 hours, there should be facility to complete the assessment and other activities manually automatically without seeking approval of higher authorities.
A: The problem of non-working of EDI system will improve substantially once migration of customs location to ICES 1.5 is complete & all the sites shift to central Server. The automatic manual assessment cannot be allowed, though the respective Custom Commissioners are authorized to allow manual assessment on a need basis.
We will bring you more clarifications in the next editions of DDT .