Page 3 - Customs

Centre says certain onion consignments can be exported till Nov 30

The government on Thursday clarified onion consignments that have been handed over to the customs authorities and are registered in their systems before October 29 can be exported till November 30. On October 28, the government imposed a minimum export price (MEP) of USD 800 per tonne on onion exports till December 31 this year with a view to increase availability of the vegetable in the domestic market and to contain prices. "Where onion consignment has been handed over to the customs before October 29, 2023... and is registered in their system/ where onions consignment has entered the customs station for exportation before this notification and is registered in the electronic systems of the concerned custodian of the customs station with verifiable evidence of date and time stamping of these commodities having entered the station prior to October 29. "The period of export shall be up to November 30 this year," the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said. It added that th

WCO-IAPH guidelines for customs, ports released

The WCO is an intergovernmental organization of 185 member countries, whose customs administrations process over 98 per cent of international trade

Illicit goods worth over Rs 1,000 cr seized ahead of Rajasthan elections

In the last 15 days, agencies seized Rs 244 crore in cash and various illegal items along with freebies and other items worth Rs 84.22 crore

CAG asks FinMin to put in place online Customs refund system for efficiency

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has asked the Finance Ministry to consider having an online system for processing customs refunds along the lines of the GSTN system to make it more efficient. The official auditor has also flagged "inordinate delays" in the implementation of the module for daily updation of exchange rate and asked to make the system operational at the earliest. Under the Customs Act, refunds can be claimed in cases where the imported goods are found to be defective or not in conformity with the specification agreed upon, when the goods are exported after payment of the export duty/cess and the exported goods are returned to the exporter. A refund can also be claimed by a person who has paid duty on assessment of imported goods and applies for refund of duty consequent on remission /abatement of duty due to pilferage/damage of goods. "The Ministry may consider having an online workflow for capturing and processing refunds on the lines of the GSTN System so

CHATROOM: 'Customs should reveal method used to fix value of export goods'

Rule 1.1 of the FEDAI Rules, 2019 says that the normal working hours of ADs for foreign currency to Indian rupee transactions for clients is 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on all days, except Saturdays, Sundays

CBIC redefining NAC role to make Customs assessment more efficient: Johri

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) is redefining the role of National Assessment Centres (NACs) to make faceless assessment in Customs more efficient, its chief Vivek Johri said on Friday. The CBIC in September last year launched the risk-based faceless assessment system in phases for clearance of imported consignments. For this, 11 Customs Commissionerates were partially re-organised commodity wise as NACs, with pan-India jurisdiction. Addressing the CII National Conference on Trade Facilitation, Johri said there are gaps in Customs faceless assessment and the department is looking at them. "We are on the drawing board to redefine the role of NACs to rationalise the whole process and make it more efficient," he said. The CBIC has already reduced the number of NACs from 11 to 8 to promote specialisation and make them strong. "We are trying to reactivate them and make them strong, and ensure that there is least divergence of practice in assessment which continue

India, US working to 'quickly conclude' pact for faster customs clearances

India and the US are working to 'quickly conclude' the mutual recognition agreement (MRA) for authorised economic operators of both countries to expedite customs clearances, CBIC Chief Vivek Johri said on Friday. The two countries in September 2021 entered into anA to recognise the AEOs of both countries. The AEO programme enables Customs administration to identify safe and compliant exporters and importers and to provide them with better facilitation. Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a CII event, Johri said the customs authorities of India and the US had discussions to recognise the AEOs of both countries and give reciprocal benefits. As part of the agreement, customs authorities of one country visit the other and evaluate their AEO programme and make sure that the features that are there for accrediting an entity as an AEO are strong enough to make the entity risk-free. That evaluation has already been done, and the language and the text of the agreement have also been ..

Customs clearance time for imports drops 11% at air cargo complexes

The average time taken for customs clearance of imports has dropped 11 per cent at air cargo complexes and 9 per cent across seaports, a CBIC study showed on Thursday. The National Time Release Study (NTRS) 2023, presents the average cargo release time for seaports, air cargo complexes (ACCs), inland container depots (ICDs) and integrated check posts (ICPs), which account for approximately 80 per cent of bills of entry and 70 per cent of shipping bills filed in the country. "The average import release time has continued to improve, achieving 20 per cent reduction in release time for ICDs; 11 per cent reduction for ACCs; and 9 per cent reduction for seaports in 2023 over 2022," the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) statement said. In absolute terms, the import release time for seaports, ICDs, ACC and ICPs is 85:42 hrs, 71:46 hrs, 44:16 hrs and 31:47 hrs, respectively. The Time Release Study measures the time taken from the arrival of the cargo at the Customs station

CBIC rolls out module for automated scrutiny of GST returns of taxpayers

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has rolled out a module for automated scrutiny of GST returns. This module will enable the officers to carry out scrutiny of GST returns of Centre Administered Taxpayers selected on the basis of data analytics and risks identified by the System, the finance ministry said in a statement. In the module, discrepancies on account of risks associated with a return are displayed to the tax officers. Tax officers are provided with a workflow for interacting with the taxpayers through the GSTN Common Portal for communication of discrepancies noticed. Implementation of this Automated Return Scrutiny Module has commenced with the scrutiny of GST returns for FY 2019-20, and the requisite data for the purpose has already been made available on the officers' dashboard, the statement added.

Chatroom: Replacement part can be imported under EPCG scheme for spares

There is no stipulation that a free replacement must come only after re-export of the wrong shipment

Chatroom: 'Seller and buyer can agree to deviate from Incoterms'

Under the Customs laws, you are required to declare the transaction value, i.e., the price paid or payable for the goods

'In CIF/CFR contracts, the seller bears risk of variation in freight rates'

'As long as you expect to realise the CIF/CFR value of the goods and declare it correctly in your shipping bill/EDF, there is no violation under FEMA'

Customs duty changes in Budget will promote Make in India initiative: GTRI

Customs duty changes for several products such as precious metals, small cars, bicycles, toys and telecommunication components in the Budget will help promote the Make in India initiative of the government, economic think tank GTRI said on Friday. The Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) also said the import duty changes in Union Budget 2023-24 affect products that count for less than USD 14 billion or 2 per cent of the value in India's current import basket. A large part of the Budget exercise was devoted to reducing the number of duty slabs and exemptions. The government continued with the current import duty structure, making changes only when it has big reason to do so. This will allow the firms to think long-term, GTRI co-founder Ajay Srivastava said. Customs duty changes fall into four broad groups - duty hike , duty reduction, correcting inverted duty structure, and reducing the number of duty slabs. He said the combined imports value for products where duty was raised i

Gold worth Rs 2.01 crore seized at Mangaluru International Airport

Customs sleuths at the Mangaluru International Airport (MIA) have seized a total of 3,677 grams of smuggled gold worth Rs 2,01,69,800 between Jan 1 and 18 this year

Customs dept monitoring toy imports, newer modus operandi adopted: CBIC

The CBIC on Saturday said the customs department is closely monitoring import of toys and continuously tackling newer modus operandi adopted to circumvent the quality control and safety norms. The government earlier this week said 18,600 toys have been seized in the last one month from major retail stores, including those of Hamleys and Archies, at airports and malls across India for lack of BIS quality mark and use of fake licences. In a tweet, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) said the customs department is engaged with both BIS and the DGFT (Directorate General of Foreign Trade) to thwart attempts of circumventing the quality control and safety checks. It said newer modus operandi adopted to circumvent the BIS restrictions by way of imports of parts of toys, staggered import of such parts through different ports, and misdeclaration of toys and their parts as entirely different items is being "continuously tackled". "Indian Customs has been closely monitoring

Customs department to destroy drugs worth Rs 538 crore in Navi Mumbai

The Customs Department in Mumbai will destroy more than 140 kilograms of narcotic drugs worth Rs 538 crore seized from the city international airport and other places here, an official said on Thursday. These drugs will be destroyed on Friday at the incineration facility operated by Mumbai Waste Management Limited (MWML) located at Taloja in Navi Mumbai, he said. "The seized drugs, collectively weighing 140.57 kg, comprise 56.06 kg heroin and 33.81 kg hashish, seized by the Mumbai Airport Commissionerate in 14 cases," the official said. Apart from that, 21.70 kg hashish was seized in a case booked at the Mumbai Air Cargo Export Commissionerate, whereas 3.29 kg heroin was seized in a case by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), he said. "The process of incineration will start around 12 pm and will be video-recorded in the presence of senior officials of the Mumbai Customs and the police department," he added.

'DGFT should align RoDTEP, Customs Tariff HSN Codes'

'The DGFT should also resolve the problem of exporters who have used the HSN Code as per Customs Tariff but have ticked the right box in the shipping bill to indicate their claim of RoDTEP benefits'

'Proving identity of re-imported goods essential for claiming exemption'

Funds held in the foreign currency accounts of SEZ units cannot be loaned or made available to any person or entity resident in India, not being a unit in Special Economic Zones

Tax-authorities tighten noose around under-invoicing of Chinese imports

Tax authorities suspect a tax evasion of more than Rs 16,000 crore through under-invoicing by businesses from April 2019 to December 2020

FM should clear the air on 'pre-import' matter

The Customs have started sending show-cause notices (SCN) to several exporters alleging violation of 'pre-import' condition in case of imports without payment of IGST under advance authorisations