e-SANCHIT and ICEGATE: Customs procedures get digital easing

Importers have to compulsorily upload all supporting documents through the e-SANCHIT facility for all bills of entry filed at the Jawaharlal Nehru Customs House (JNCH), Nhava Sheva (Navi Mumbai), and some other customs houses, from March 15 onward. Hard copies of the uploaded documents will not be insisted by assessing officers. The idea is to reduce physical interface between customs/regulatory agencies and the trade and to increase the speed of clearance.
 
Under Circular 10/2015 of the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC), dated March 31, 2015, and Circular 26/2015 dated November 23, 2015, all bills of entry are required to be submitted by authorised persons on the customs portal, ICEGATE, after affixing of digital signatures. CBEC had introduced the facility of voluntarily uploading the documents through its Circular 40/2017-Cus dated October 13, 2017, at select customs houses. However, this facility was not being used optimally by the trade. So, it was decided to implement this from March 1 on a mandatory basis, for bills of entry pertaining to certain appraising groups. Importers or customs brokers were also informed that bills of entry pertaining to other appraising groups could also be filed by using e-SANCHIT on a voluntary basis.

 
It has now been decided that it shall be obligatory to upload the supporting documents through e-SANCHIT for all the bills of entry filed at JNCH with effect from March 15 this year. Certain documents/certificates in original (for example, certificates of origin, duty exemption certificate, etc) are required to be mandatorily verified at the time of assessment and/or clearance, as the case may be. However, even such documents must be uploaded on e-SANCHIT before clearance.
 

The step-by-step procedure for upload of supporting documents is provided on the ICEGATE website. And, annexed to JNCH Public Notice 162/2017 dated December 29, 2017. A file containing ‘Frequently asked questions’ and their answers (already available on the ICEGATE website) has also been reproduced at the end of that notice, for the sake of easy reference. While preparing a job for submission on ICEGATE in their respective remote EDI systems, the authorised persons must ensure they have uploaded all the necessary supporting documents.

 
A facility has also been provided on ICEGATE for authorised persons to access and view the documents uploaded by them. In case the person seeks to provide a document after generation of the Bill of Entry number, he/she may first upload the document on ICEGATE, obtain a unique ID image reference number for it link that with the corresponding bill of entry, by submitting an amendment at the service centre of the customs house. This procedure will also apply when the authorised person submits a document in response to a query raised by customs for a bill of entry.

 
Once a bill of entry has been filed, customs officers will be able to access the uploaded electronic versions of the supporting documents, while viewing or assessing the bill of entry. During assessment, a query can be raised to call for additional documents or information. In response to a query, supporting documents can also be uploaded online. All documents required for the purposes of assessment can be viewed online.
 
Hopefully, the new procedure will be implemented smoothly and extended to all customs stations.
E-mail: tncrajagopalan@gmail.com