Telecom equipment in the context of notification No. 02/2019- Customs dated 29-01-2019 amending notification No. 57/2017-Customs dated 30.06.3017 - Customs - 08/2023

Circular No. 08/2023 F. No. 524/11/2022-STO(TU) Government of India Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue Central Board of Indirect Taxes Customs North Block, New Delhi Dated: 13.03.2023 To, All Principal Chief Commissioners/ Chief Commissioners of Customs/Customs (Preventive), All Principal Chief Commissioners/ Chief Commissioners of Customs and Central Tax All Principal Commissioners/ Commissioners of Customs/ Customs (Preventive) All Principal Directors General/Directors General, under CBIC Madam/ Sir, Subject: Telecom equipment in the context of notification No. 02/2019- Customs dated 29-01-2019 amending notification No. 57/2017-Customs dated 30.06.3017 - reg Attention of the field formations is invited to Notification No. 57/2017- Customs dated 30.06.2017 amended by Notification No. 02/2019-Customs dated 29.01.2019 which, against tariff items 8517 62 90 and 8517 69 90 , gives descriptions of certain goods that are telecommunication products or equipment. 2. In this context, the Board was apprised that some of these technology related descriptions, specifically those at (b) to (h), amongst (a) to (h), in the notification, need to be better understood by all stakeholders for a more effective identification of products and equipment covered therein. 3. Accordingly, in order to make stakeholders more aware in the matter, and in consultation with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) - (a) the identification of products/equipment covered thereunder, at (b) to (h) of the notification, is illustrated in Annexure -1; (b) it is decided that, in terms of the Bill of Entry (Electronic Integrated Declaration and Paperless Processing) Regulations 2018 , an identification of products/equipment under 85176290 and 85176990 shall be enabled from the beginning, that is, from the time of filing of import declarations itself, bringing certainty, for which an alpha numeric code/identifier as provided for in Annexure -2 will need to be additionally declared in bill of entry by the importer with effect from 01.04.2023. 4. Suitable Public Notice, etc may kindly be issued for guidance. Difficulty faced, if any, in implementation may be intimated. The Hindi version follows. Encl: Annexure -1, 2 abbreviations list Varun Koundinya OSD-Tariff Unit email: tariffunit-rev@nic.in Tel:23095557 Annexure -1 Notfn item Notification description Identification of products/equipment covered (b) and (d) Optical transport equipment and Optical Transport Network products Machines and apparatus covered include - i. OTN equipment; ii. Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexer (DWDM); iii. Coarse Wavelength Division Multiplexer (CWDM); iv. Elements of (i), (ii) or (iii) above: ROADM, Booster mplifiers, Pre-Amplifiers, Inline Amplifiers, Raman Amplifiers, Mux-demux, Transponders, Mux-ponders, OADM and Regenerators, Optical Power Monitoring and Optical Line Protection equipment. (c) Combination of one or more of Packet Optical Transport Product or Switch (POTP or POTS) The Machines/apparatus covered under this category include- i. Optical Line Terminal (OLT) for FTTX (GPON/ EPON/ XGSPON/ 10GEPON/ NG-PON2 / 25GPON / 50GPON etc.); ii. Optical Network Terminal (ONT) for FTTX (GPON/ EPON/ XGSPON/ 10GEPON/ NG-PON2 / 25GPON / 50GPON etc.). (e) Internet Protocol (IP) Radios The Machines/apparatus covered under this category include - i. Wi-Fi Access Point Equipment and Wi-Fi Controller ; ii. Repeaters (RF/RF-over-Optical) In-Building Solution (IBS)- Indoor/Outdoor including active and passive Accessories (2G/3G/ 4G/5G and onwards); iii. Wireless Radio Link (IP/Hybrid) equipment. (f) Soft switches and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) equipment, namely, VoIP phones, Media gateways, Gateway controllers and Session border controllers Card/module or sub-systems converting analog voice signal into digital packets that are carried over internet protocol use one or more of these products. Some examples are- i. Internet Protocol Private Branch Exchange (IP PBX); ii. IP Multimedia Systems (IMS); iii. Unified communication systems (UCS). (g) Carrier Ethernet Switches, Packet Transport Node (PTN) products, Multiprotocol Label Switching Transport Profile (MPLS-TP) products The Machines/apparatus covered under these categories include- i. IP-MPLS Based equipment; ii. MPLS-TP based equipment; iii. SDN Based MPLS equipment; iv. PTN products for Carrier Ethernet Network (CEN) for Access and Aggregation Network Applications (h) Multiple Input/Multiple Output (MIMO) and Long-Term Evolution (LTE) products The Machines/apparatus covered under these categories include- i. 4G(LTE) products and their Elements, namely- eNode B, RRH, CU, DU, RU, BBU, EPC, MME, SGW, PGW, HSS, IMS, Network In a Box (NIB), 4G CPE, etc.; ii. 5G products and its Elements, namely- gNodeB, RRH, CU, DU, RU, BBU, 5GC, IMS, Network In a Box (NIB), 5G CPE, etc.; iii. 4G and 5G enabled NB IoT devices; iv. Equipment incorporating technologies beyond 5G. Annexure -2 Identifier Product/equipment against tariff heading 85176290 or 85176990 A Wrist wearable devices (Commonly known as smart watches) MAA001 WWD-smart watches B D Optical Transport Equipment Optical Transport Network (OTN) Products in item (b) (d) of notification TEB001 OTE-ROADM TEB002 OTE-Booster Amplifiers TEB003 OTE-Pre-Amplifiers TEB004 OTE-Inline Amplifiers TEB005 OTE-Mux-Demux TEB006 OTE-Transponders TEB007 OTE-Muxponders TEB008 OTE-Raman Amplifiers TEB009 OTE-OADM TEB010 OTE-Regenerators TEB011 OTE-Optical Power Monitoring TEB012 OTE-Optical Line Protection TEB999 OTE-Others C Combination of one or more of Packet Optical Transport Product or Switch (POTP or POTS) in item (c) of notification (C1) Optical Line Terminal TEC101 OLT-GPON TEC102 OLT-EPON TEC103 OLT-XGSPON TEC104 OLT-10GEPON TEC105 OLT-NG-PON2 TEC106 OLT-25GPON TEC107 OLT-50GPON TEC199 OLT-Others (C2) Optical Network Terminal/Unit TEC201 ONT-GPON TEC202 ONT-EPON TEC203 ONT-XGSPON TEC204 ONT-10GEPON TEC205 ONT-NG-PON2 TEC206 ONT-25GPON TEC207 ONT-50GPON TEC299 ONT-Others E Internet Protocol Radios in item (e) of notification TEE001 IPR-WiFi Access Point Equipment TEE002 IPR-WiFi Controller TEE003 IPR-Repeaters (RF/RF-over-Optical) In-Building Solution (IBS)-Indoor/ Outdoor including Active and passive Accessories (2G/3G/4G/5G and onwards) TEE004 IPR-Wireless Radio Link (IP/Hybrid equipment) TEE999 IPR-Others F Soft switches and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) equipment in item (f) of notification TEF001 VoIP-VOIP Phones TEF002 Media Gateways TEF003 Gateway Controllers and Session Border Controllers TEF004 Internet Protocol Private Branch Exchange (IP PBX) TEF005 IP Multimedia Subsystems (IMS) TEF006 Unified Communication Systems (UCS) TEF007 Card / Module or Subsystem converting analog voice signal into digital packets that are carried over internet protocol that uses one or more of these products [other than IP PBX, IMS,UCS] TEF999 VoIP - Others G Carrier Ethernet Switches, Packet Transport Node (PTN) products, Multiprotocol Label Switching Transport Profile (MPLS-TP) products in item (g) of notification TEG001 IP-MPLS based Equipment TEG002 PTN based Equipment TEG003 MPLS-TP based Equipment TEG999 Others H Long-Term Evolution (LTE) (4G based) and Multiple Input/Multiple Output (MIMO) in item (h) of notification (H1) Long-Term Evolution (LTE) (4G based) TEH101 4G-RRH TEH102 4G-RU TEH103 4G-BBU TEH104 4G-CU TEH105 4G-DU TEH106 4G-eNodeB TEH107 4G-CPE TEH108 4G-EPC TEH109 4G-IMS TEH110 4G-Network In A Box (NIB)/ Compact LTE System TEH111 4G-SGW TEH112 4G-PGW TEH199 4G-Others (H2) Multiple Input/Multiple Output (MIMO) (5G based) TEH201 5G-RRH TEH202 5G-RU TEH203 5G-BBU TEH204 5G-CU TEH205 5G-DU TEH206 5G-gNodeB TEH207 5G-CPE TEH008 5G-5GC TEH209 5G-IMS TEH210 5G-Network In A Box (NIB)/ Compact System TEH299 5G and Next Generation products-Others Z Others MAZ999 all goods other than those covered in (a) to (h) of Sl.no 20 Of notification 57/2017- customs as amended by notification No. 02/2019-Customs dated 29.01.2019 Abbreviations Abbreviations used are listed below: DSL Digital Subscriber Line ADSL Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line vdsl Very High-Rate Digital Subscriber Line HDSL High-bit-rate digital subscriber line sdsl Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line ITU International Telecommunication Union ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network MPEG Moving Picture Experts Group OTN Optical Transport Network DXC Digital Cross Connector DCI Data Center Interconnect WSS Wavelength Selective Switch ROADM Reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer EDFA Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier FTTH Fiber to the home GPON Gigabit Passive Optical Network EPON Ethernet passive optical network NG-PON2 Next-Generation Passive Optical Network 2 ONU Optical Network Unit APs Access Points RF Radio Frequency TDM Time Division Multiplexing VoIP Voice over IP RFC Request for Comments RRH Remote Radio Head RU Radio Unit DU Distributed Unit CPE Customer premises equipment EPC Evolved Packet Core IMS IP Multimedia Subsystem 5GC 5G Core eNB eNodeB BBU Baseband Unit RRU Remote Radio Unit AAU Active antenna processing unit MME Mobility Management Entity SGW Serving gateway HSS Home Subscriber Server PCRF Policy and Charging Rules Function AMF Access and Mobility Management Function UPF User Plane Function HSS Home Subscriber Server