FM LAUNCHES iCERT PROJECT
The Finance Minister launched the iCERT project, being the first recipient of the Digital Signature certificate from the certifying Authority, the Directorate General of Systems in the Customs and Central Excise Department.
The iCERT will provide Digital Signature Certificates to the Trading Community, officers of CBEC, and the agencies directly concerned with E-governance in tax administration to render revenue transactions and related transmissions over internet secure.
The iCERT will ensure that Importers, Exporters, Central Excise and Service tax assesses or their agents, who have obtained the Certificate, have the facility of electronically filling not only statutory returns but also any type of communications i.e., requests, grievances, refund claims, adjudication documents, payment advice to Banks etc. over the internet without any risk to security. The users of this facility need not come to the Customs or Central Excise offices but interact over the Internet with competent authorities without any risk of impersonation.
The electronic transactions would be authenticated by the digital certificates and would be legally valid and could be used as evidence under Indian Law. The Information Technology Act 2000 provides legal recognition to the electronic records as well as to the process of authentication of electronic records by affixing digital signatures.
The iCERT Certifying Authority would be issuing CLASS 3 digital signature certificates which carry the highest assurance levels necessary for authenticating financial transactions involving Crores of Rupees of government revenue.
By using digital signature certificates provided by the iCERT, the trading community can drastically reduce their compliance cost as well as the compliance time in carrying out their taxation responsibilities.
>From a PIB release