TIOL-DDT 249 · the untouched capture
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<html> <head> <title>Untitled Document</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> </head> <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> <p align="left"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b><font color="#663366" size="3">TIOL-DDT 249</font><br> 28 11 2005<br> Monday</b></font></p> <p align="center"><font color="#006633" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Indian Customs goes HI-TECH</b></font></p> <p align="center"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Accredited Clients Programme and Risk Management System (RMS)</b></font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">“The ever increasing volumes and complexity of international trade and the deteriorating global security scenario present formidable challenges to Customs. The exponential growth in trade volumes means that the traditional approach of scrutinizing every document and examining every consignment will simply not work, as it would neither be desirable nor possible to constantly increase the resources with the increasing workload. Also, there is a need to reduce the dwell-time of cargo at the ports and airports and to reduce the transaction costs in order to enhance the competitiveness of Indian businesses, by expediting release of cargo where compliance is high. This necessitates that the department should be selective in its approach to deployment of its resources. The advances in Information Technology offer an opportunity to address these challenges faced by the department by putting in place an effective risk management system.''</font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Looks like the Board is serious about using those computers. Now they are talking about <b>Accredited Clients Programme</b> and Risk Management System (RMS). Importers registered by the department as '<b>Accredited Clients</b>' under the Accredited Clients Programme will form a separate category to which assured facilitation would be provided and they can clear their goods on self assessment basis. Separate storage space, handling facility and expeditious clearance procedures will be made available for these clients. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Who are accredited clients?</font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">To be eligible for this status the importer should have</font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">1. imported goods valued at Rs Ten Crores or paid more than Rs One Crore of Customs duty in the previous financial year or paid Central Excise Duties over Rs. One Crore from the Personal Ledger Account in the previous financial year.<br> <br> 2. filed at least 25 Bills of Entry in the previous year<br> <br> 3. no cases booked against them under customs, excise or Service Tax, that is no Show Cause Notice invoking penal provision. (<font color="#663399"><b>This one clause will remove all assessees and importers out of this elite group.)</b></font><br> <br> 4. no cases booked under any of the Allied Acts being implemented by Customs<br> <br> 5. good quality declarations.<br> <br> 6. no duty demands pending on account of non-fulfillment of Export obligation<br> <br> 7. reliable systems of record keeping and internal controls</font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The government should conduct a survey and find out how many importers would qualify in the above test. May be not more than ten in the whole country!</font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Risk Management Systems</b></font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">With the introduction of the <b>RMS</b>, the present practice of routine assessment, concurrent audit and examination of almost all Bills of Entry will be discontinued and the focus will be on quality assessment, examination and Post Clearance Audit of Bills of Entry selected by the Risk Management System <br> For detailed analyses of the schemes, please see our Breaking News.</font></p> <p align="left"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="http://www.taxindiaonline.com/RC2/subCatDesc.php3?subCatDisp_Id=25&filename=notification/custom/2005/cuscir05_042.htm"><strong>Circular No. 42</strong></a> <strong>and <a href="http://www.taxindiaonline.com/RC2/subCatDesc.php3?subCatDisp_Id=25&filename=notification/custom/2005/cuscir05_043.htm">43/2005-Cus.</a>, Dated: November 24, 2005</strong></font></p> <p align="center"><font color="#006633" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> <b>Movement of containerized cargo from gateway ports to hinterland ports – Really Hightech</b></font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">At present for movement of cargo to hinterland ports, there is a requirement of filing Sub-Manifest Transhipment Permit (SMTP) which causes delay in clearance. The Board has decided to automate this process in the ports where the Indian Customs EDI system is operational. Under the new scheme </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">1. There will no requirement to file an application.<br> <br> 2. The SMTP portion of the IGM will be treated as application.<br> <br> 3. The permission will be sent to the carrier, to the custodian and the ICES systems at the destination. <br> <br> 4. The permit can be printed by the carrier in his office or the custom house.<br> <br> 5. The transhipment permit transmitted to the recipient ICD/Port will be automatically converted into an IGM and there will be no requirement to file any fresh IGM at the destination port.<br> <br> 6. The transporter will be required to submit a container arrival report electronically.<br> <br> 7. The Directorate of Systems is working on the details of the procedure.</font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="http://www.taxindiaonline.com/RC2/subCatDesc.php3?subCatDisp_Id=25&filename=notification/custom/2005/cuscir05_046.htm"><strong>Circular No. 46/2005-Cus.</strong></a><strong>, Dated: November 24, 2005</strong></font></p> <p align="center"><font color="#006633" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Bond with Customs – one is enough</b></font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">If the same person is required to file two different bonds to a single Customs authority under different provisions of customs procedures, then one single bond can incorporate all such requirements and the existing Bond module of the EDI should be utilized for all requirements of bond. _This was the recommendation of an Inter ministerial Group headed by the Revenue Secretary. The good Board agrees and suggests, efforts should be made to reduce multiplicity of bonds. Further EDI system of Customs has a ‘bond module’ which will be fully utilized once ‘message exchange facility’ is operationalised between two ports. The implementation of bond module for re-crediting is in conformity with the Regulation 4 of the Goods Imported (Condition of Transhipment) Regulation, 1995 which provides for discharge of the bond on production of certificate of transfer of goods at the destination. After such discharge of the bond amount covering a particular transaction; the value of mother bond will be credited to that extent. In an online environment, such re-credit to the extent of the bond amount which gets discharged as stated above, would be done automatically in the system on receipt of electronic message between Gateway port and destination port or between two customs stations. Directorate of Systems and Data Management would make efforts to implement the same in electronic environment in time bound manner.</font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="http://www.taxindiaonline.com/RC2/subCatDesc.php3?subCatDisp_Id=25&filename=notification/custom/2005/cuscir05_047.htm"><strong>Circular No. 47/2005-Cus</strong></a><strong>., Dated: November 24, 2005</strong></font></p> <p align="center"><font color="#006633" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Exchange rates announced for imported goods and export goods</b></font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Notification Nos 104 and 105/2005-NT-CUSTOMS, dated November 25, 2005 fix the exchange rates for imports and exports respectively with effect from 1st December, 2005. Notifications 95 and 96/2005-Cus. (N.T.), dated 26-10-2005 are superseded.</font></p> <p align="center"><font color="#006633" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Filing of incomplete or incorrect import manifest – Go slow on penalty - CBEC</b></font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Section 30 of the Customs Act was amended by the Finance Act, 2003. As per the old Section 30 an import manifest/report was to be filed within 24 hours after the arrival of a vessel and within twelve hours in the case of aircraft. There was no penal provision for contravention of this section and at best the department could impose a maximum penalty of Rs. 10,000/- under Section 117. The amended section requires mandatory filing of the manifest before the arrival of the vessel and a penalty up to Rs. 50,000/- for contravention. The amendment was not brought into force for one whole year till May 2004. Obviously the amendment did not change the situation much as incorrect or incomplete manifests were filed which were later corrected. The Board in December 2004 and March 2005 advised the officers to invariably impose penalty when such corrections are not made within the prescribed time. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The word penalty must have activated at the department and Board received several representations that this is causing undue delay. So now the Board advises the field that exceptional circumstances should be taken into consideration and penal action is not initiated mechanically. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="http://www.taxindiaonline.com/RC2/subCatDesc.php3?subCatDisp_Id=25&filename=notification/custom/2005/cuscir05_044.htm"><strong>Circular No. 44/2005-Cus</strong></a><strong>., Dated: November 24, 2005</strong></font></p> <p align="center"><font color="#006633" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Transhipment of cargo - Waiver of bank guarantee</b></font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Board has decided to waive bank guarantee for transhipment of cargo from the gateway port to feeder ports/ICDs/CSFs and vice versa. The waiver would apply to carriers of containerized cargo handling more than one thousand TEUs as import containers in a financial year. Even those who have less than this volume of one thousand TEUs but having good track record can be given this facility by the Commissioner. This facility is expected to ease the congestion at the port. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="http://www.taxindiaonline.com/RC2/subCatDesc.php3?subCatDisp_Id=25&filename=notification/custom/2005/cuscir05_045.htm"><strong>Circular No. 45/2005-Cus</strong></a><strong>., Dated: November 24, 2005</strong></font></p> <p align="center"><font color="#006633" size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Rangarajan to be new FM?</b></font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee is tipped to be the next External Affairs Minister of India._ Shivraj Patil may be appointed Defence Minister and Finance Minister P Chidambaram home or internal security minister. Former Reserve Bank of India governor Dr C Rangarajan is tipped to become finance minister, as the Prime Minister is pushing for his nomination to the Rajya Sabha. No! DDT is not speculating on Indian politics. This is what the Daily Times of Pakistan reported yesterday and if this turns out to be true, we may as well start reading Pakistani newspapers to know news about India. </font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>"Maybe they should also conduct a lifestyle check on the unexplained poverty of the majority of government employees."</b> - <i>Aaron Capeding Redubla, famous Philippines Customs Commissioner who died recently.</i><br> <br> <b>"There are many unsung heroes in government. No sense waiting for them to pass away, too, before we recognize them”</b> - <i>a remark at his funeral service.</i></font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>Don’t ever wake up a sleeping serpent, king, tiger, pig, other’s dog, and fool; Let them sleep</b> - <i>Koutilya</i></font></p> <p align="justify"><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b><font color="#FF6666">Until tomorrow with more DDT</font></b></font></p> <p align="justify"><font color="#FF6666"><b><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Have a nice day. </font></b></font></p> <p align="justify"><font color="#FF6666"><b><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Mail your comments to</font></b></font><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> <a href="vijaywrite@taxindiaonline.com">vijaywrite@taxindiaonline.com</a></font></p> </body> </html>