Recently Indian Customs has done amendment in their Custom Act for filling of Bill of Enrty ( i.e. Custom Import documents filling ) for all Import cargos coming to India effective 1st of April 2017. In this new regulations all Consignee / their agents must have to file Import Bill of Enrty in Customs EDI system within 24 hr of vessel arrival at port, failing which a daily penalty will be imposed on Consignee. This is a very good and corrective measure from Indian Customs to stop all illegal / wrong Customs filling. This will also speed up the import clearance process in all port in India making them competitive in world market. Apart from that, Free time at all ports has been reduced to 24 hrs so that the current backlog of cargo can be eased out from all Ports and ICD(s). This sudden movement strictly comes into picture due to nationwide NEWS of fake currency and ammunition speads and DRI, SIB, CID stops all works in every major ports and ICD(s).
This New regulation may be called the Bill of Entry (Electronic Integrated Declaration) Amendment Regulations, 2017.
Please take a look of the summery of the new regulations….
“Regulation 4. (1) The authorised person shall file the bill of entry before the end of the next day following the day (excluding holidays) on which the aircraft or vessel or vehicle carrying the goods arrives at a customs station at which such goods are to be cleared for home consumption or warehousing.
The bill of entry shall be deemed to have been filed and self-assessment of duty completed when, after entry of the electronic integrated declaration in the Indian Customs Electronic Data Interchange System either through ICEGATE or by way of data entry through the service centre, a bill of entry number is generated by the Indian Customs Electronic Data Interchange System for the said declaration.
Where the bill of entry is not filed within the time specified in sub-regulation (1) and the proper officer of Customs is satisfied that there was no sufficient cause for such delay, the importer shall be liable to pay charges for late presentation of the bill of entry at the rate of rupees five thousand per day for the initial three days of default and at the rate of rupees ten thousand per day for each day of default thereafter:
Provided that where the proper officer is satisfied with the reasons of delay, he may waive off the charges referred to in the second proviso to sub-section (3) of section 46 of the Customs Act, 1962 (52 of 1962).
No charges for late presentation of Bill of Entry shall be liable to be paid where the entry inwards or arrival of cargo, as the case may be, has taken place before the date on which the Finance Bill, 2017 receives the assent of the President.”
This sudden notification has make a lot of consignee’s life miserable suddenly but this will surely purify the current impurity of EXIM Trade and we CSS Delhi welcomes this strict move imposed by Custom for purification of Trade.
Rajesh Arora
Vice President – CSS North India