FEMA - Sea Trans-shipment of catch by Deep Sea Fishing Vessel
SINCE deep sea fishing involves continuous sailing outside the territorial limit, trans-shipment of catches takes place in the high sea leading to procedural constraints in regulatory reporting requirement viz. the Declaration of Export in terms of Notification No.FEMA.23/2000/RB dated May 3, 2000. With a view to rationalize the procedures, it has been decided that for mid-sea trans-shipment of catches by Indian owned vessels, the GR declaration procedure as follows may be followed:
++ The exporters may submit the GR form, duly signed by the Master of the Vessel in lieu of Custom Certification, indicating the composition of the catch, quantity, export value, date of transfer of catch, etc.
++ The date of transfer of catch may be indicated in the column for ‘Date of Shipment' with suitable remarks.
++ In SDF form, Bill of Lading No. and date shall be mentioned in lieu of the Shipping Bill No. and date.
++ Bill of Lading / Receipt of Transhipment issued by the carrier vessel should include the GR Form Number.
++ The GR Forms should be duly supported by a certificate from an international cargo surveyor.
++ The prescribed period of realization and repatriation should be reckoned with reference to the date of transfer of catch as certified by the Master of the Vessel or the date of the invoice, whichever is earlier.
++ The GR Form, both original and duplicate, should indicate the number and date of Letter of Permit issued by Ministry of Agriculture for operation of the vessel.
++ The exporter will complete the GR Form in duplicate and both the copies may be submitted to the Customs at the registered port of the vessel or any other port as approved by Ministry of Agriculture. GR (Original) will be retained by the Customs for capturing of data in Customs' Electronic Data Interchange.
++ Customs will give their running serial number on both the copies of GR Form and will return the duplicate copy to the exporter as the value certification of the export has already been done as mentioned above.
++ Rules, Regulations and Directions issued in respect of the procedure for submission of the GR form by exporter to the AD Category-I banks, and the disposal of these forms by these banks will be same as applicable to the other exporters.
RBI A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 48, dated: 21 November 2011