Ease of Doing Business - CBEC's Customs Manual 2025 - Customs

3. Ease of Doing Business 3.1 Board has initiated numerous measures to facilitate the Customs clearance process and reduce transaction costs. The objective is to make the Customs clearance process in India a world class experience by reducing dwell time of cargo, which in turn improves the competitiveness of businesses. Some of these measures are presently work in progress and their present importance is in the fact that these highlight the approach of the Board towards ensuring the ease of doing business. 3.2 Paperless Initiatives 1. Single Window : An Indian Customs Single Window Project has begun with the establishment of an appropriate administrative structure in the form of an inter-ministerial Steering Group that is chaired by Member (Customs), CBIC, a Project Management Group in CBIC and Project Management Units in the Ministries. With the introduction of Single Window, an electronic online message exchange between the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and the Department of Plant Protection, Quarantine and Storage (PQIS) with the Customs has started, which enables reducing the dwell time considerably. Under this online message exchange system for import goods there is seamless online exchange in real time of the Customs Bill of Entry (Import declaration) with these agencies and Release Order (RO) from both the agencies will be received by the Customs in electronic message format. The salient features of this online message exchange system are as under: (i) Indian Customs EDI System (ICES) would transmit BE message to the FSSAI and PQIS on completion of assessment of the relevant Bills of Entry (Bs/E) by the Customs ICES application after entry-inward of the consignment. The BE message would be provided to FSSAI/PQIS for all Bs/E falling under the identified Custom Tariff Heads (CTHs), as per list made available by the respective agencies. (ii) The Customs officers would be able to access the details of the Bs/E referred by the ICES to FSSAI/PQIS. (iii) The importers would track the status of the Bs/E on ICEGATE (https://www.icegate.gov.in). (iv) The receipt of the Bs/E message shall be acknowledged by the FSSAI/PQIS through a receipt message to the ICES. (v) On processing of the Bs/E message by the FSSAI/PQIS, these agencies would electronically transmit an RO, concerning each item of the Bs/E. From the Customs side, Out of Charge (OOC) will not be allowed in the system till the RO is received from the agency concerned for all the items. There are 6 types of ROs which may be provided by the FSSAI/PQIS to the ICES, as follows: (a) Release - goods can be released by the Customs. (b) Destruction goods to be destructed by the Customs. (c) Deportation goods to be exported back to the Country of Origin. (d) No Objection Certificate (NOC) goods can be released by the Customs. (e) NCC (Non-compliance Certificate) non-rectifiable defects observed in the goods. (f) Product Out of scope - goods are out of scope for FSSAI/PQIS. (vi) In case, the Release Order falls under types (b), (c) and (e) above, the OOC would not be allowed in the ICES. Details of such consignments will be entered by the Customs Assessing Officer in the closure of B/E menu after all processes are complete. (vii) On receipt of RO online, the Customs ICES shall integrate the data in the ICES database, which shall be available to the Customs officers concerned. (viii) The other formalities under the Customs Act, 1962 such as duty payment, goods registration, examination would continue during the time interval between transmission of Bs/E message from ICES to the receipt of RO message from FSSAI/PQIS. During this period the samples of the goods under consideration may also be taken for testing purposes. (ix) In terms of Board s Circular No.3/2011-Customs., dated 06.01.2011 import consignments that have been tested on previous five consecutive occasions and found in order may not be referred to FSSAI. Under single window project, the electronic monitoring and waiver of shipments which are eligible for waiver from FSSAI testing are being effected without human interference. (x) Since the electronically received RO in regard to Bs/E referred to FSSAI/PQIS shall be accepted by the Customs for clearance of the imported foods items/plant materials, the Customs shall not insist on a physical copy of the RO from these agencies. [Circular No. 09/2015-Customs dated 31.03.2015] (xi) SWIFT in Exports have been extended on export side for online referral to WCCB to all Customs EDI locations for smooth online clearance. (xii) Electronic Exchange with Animal Quarantine and Certification services (AQCS) has been enabled along with mandatory upload of Veterinary Health certificate, Laboratory reports/certificates or declaration based on products imported. [Refer Circulars No.9/2015 -Cus., dated 31.03.2015, No.1/2017-Customs dated 04.01.2017, No.31/2017-Customs dated 25.07.2017, No. 24/2022-Customs dated 28.11.2022] 2. IGM /SMTP: Taking into account the requirement of Customs as well the fact that an electronic version of IGM is already available, Board has decided that the number of hard copies of IGM to be submitted by shipping lines / steamer agents at a Customs House shall be restricted to 2 (two) only. Further, the steamer agent has the option to (a) give a continuity bond and (b) merge the guarantee with the continuity bond, which would reduce the number of required documents to 1 (one) only and the periodicity (of submission) would also get reduced drastically. Also, it is decided that only 1 (one) copy of SMTP would be sufficient for the Customs at ICDs. Finally, no separate permission is required from jurisdictional Customs in case of change of mode of transshipment under the Goods Imported (Conditions of Transshipment) Regulations, 1995. However, the carrier is required to intimate the change to the jurisdictional Commissioner of Customs who will ensure the bond covers both modes of transport. [Refer Circular No. 2/2015 - Cus. dated 15.01.2015] 3. Reduction of documents: The Board has decided that in case an importer/exporter submits a commercial invoice cum packing list that contain all necessary data fields / information otherwise contained separately in these documents, a separate packing list would not be insisted upon by Customs. However, the option to do so is with the importer/exporter. As a result, the documents ordinarily required by the Customs stand reduced to only 3 viz. Bill or Entry or Shipping Bill, commercial invoice cum packing list and Bill of Lading or Air Waybill. [Refer Circular No 1/2015 - Cus., dated 12.01.2015] Mandatory uploading of specified documents in E-Sanchit: Board has decided to mandatorily require uploading on eSANCHIT, for every Bill of Entry, Invoice/ Invoice cum packing list and Transport Contract i.e. Bill of Lading/ Air Waybill etc., as the case may be. Directorate of Systems have issued Advisory No. 25/2019 dated (web link) laying down requirement of mandatory uploading on e-Sanchit, the Invoice/ Invoice cum packing list and Bill of Lading/Air Waybill etc. for every Bill of Entry and subsequent declaration of document code and IRNs in the Bill of Entry. With effect from 02.12.2019, for every Invoice and Bill of Lading / Air Waybill declared in the Bill of Entry, the reference of IRN generated from eSANCHIT with the relevant document code as given above must be provided. The reference of the above document codes from eSanchit in the Bills of Entry has been made mandatory in System. As regards all the other supporting documents (such as Country of Origin Certificate (COO), license/ permission from any Government Agency (PGA) in relation to the eligibility for import / clearances or claim of duty exemption), it is emphasized that to make Customs duty truly paperless, uploading of these documents through eSANCHIT either by beneficiary or by PGAs, should be ensured administratively. Therefore, the field offices must ensure that no physical copy of any supporting document is submitted and every relevant document is submitted only electronically via eSanchit either by the beneficiary or by the Participating Government Agency. [Refer Circular No 42/2019 - Cus., dated 29.11.2019] 4. Dispensing with SDF: The Board has issued Notification No 46/2015-Cus (N.T.), dated 18.05.2015 to incorporate the following declaration in lieu of SDF form in the Shipping Bill. I/We undertake to abide by provisions of Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999, as amended from time to time, including realization / repatriation of foreign exchange to / from India Thus, submission of SDF form along with Shipping Bill has been dispensed with provided the said declaration is furnished in the Shipping Bill. [Refer Circular No.15/2015 - Cus., dated 18.05.2015] 5. Digital Signature: The Board has decided that with effect from 01.04.2015 importers, exporters, customs brokers, shipping lines, airlines or their agents shall have the facility to use Digital Signature Certificate for filing Customs process documents viz. Bills of Entry, Shipping Bills, IGM (General Declaration and Cargo Declaration), EGM (General Declaration), CGM through Remote EDI System (RES). Besides ACP, all importers, exporters using services of Customs Brokers for formalities under Customs Act, 1962, shipping lines and air lines are required to file customs documents under digital signature certificates mandatorily with effect from 01.01.2016. [Refer Circulars No.10/2015-Cus., dated 31.03.2015 and No. 26/2015-Customs dated 23.10.2015] 6. E-Sanchit: The CBIC has introduced eSanchit for paperless transaction. The importers are now required to upload the required documents online through www.icegate.gov.in while filling the Bill of Entry instead of submitting the physical papers. Reply to queries raised by Customs Officers can be submitted online by uploading the documents. Physical presence of paper or person for assessment related works have been done away with. CBIC is embarking on a project to bring all Participating Government Agencies(PGAs) under eSanchit wherein PGAs who issues Licenses, Permits, Certificates and Other Authorizations (LPCOs) would upload the documents themselves doing away with uploading of such document by the beneficiary (importer/ exporter) themselves. Importers/ Exporters, Customs Brokers and other beneficiaries are required to register on ICEGATE for this purpose. [Refer Circular No. 35/2018 - Customs dated 01.10.2018] E-Sanchit expansion: Aimed at further reducing physical interface between Customs/regulatory agencies and the trade and to increase the speed of clearance in both imports exports, the E-Sanchit application provides a facility to upload digitally signed Licenses/Permits/Certificates/Other Authorizations (LPCOs) by Participating Government Agencies (PGAs) at all ICES locations across India. In this regard, kindly Refer to Board s Circulars No. 44/2018-Cus. dated 13.11.2018, No.13/2019-Cus. dated 03.06.2019, No.19/2019-Cus. dated 16.07.2019, No.03/2020-Cus dated 15.01.2020, No.11/2020-Cus. dated 10.02.2020 and No.24/2020 dated 14.05.2020. With issue of Board Circular No.57/2020-Customs dated 30.12.2020, two (2) more PGAs namely Trade Promotion Council of India (TPCI) and Export Promotion Council for EOUs SEZs (EPCES) were brought on board eSANCHIT platform. With this, the total number of PGAs on Board eSANCHIT becomes 53. [Refer Circular No.57/2020-Customs dated 30.12.2020] 7 . Electronic Closure of Manifest: With the submission of supporting documents online, the manifest department of Customs Houses will not receive hard copies of dockets. Officers shall rely on the electronic records maintained on ICES. Request for re-testing of sample made within a specified time by the importer or agent may be granted by the Additional Commissioner or Joint Commissioner of Customs as a trade facilitation measure. For uniformity in procedure at the various field formations, Board has issued detailed guidelines for retesting of samples. [Refer Circular No. 30/2017-Customs dated 18.07.2017] 8. Implementation of Electronic Cash Ledger: The Electronic Cash Ledger (ECL) has enabled the importer, exporter, or any person liable to pay duty, fees etc., to deposit an advance with the Government instead of transaction wise payment as was being done, to pay his liabilities under this Act or under any other law for the time being in force. ECL deposit is non-interest bearing and is utilized for payment of duties and other sums relating to Customs by debiting seamlessly from the ECL. Since 01.03.2024, ECL has been extended to Courier Shipments. The List of deposits exempted from ECL is provided through Board Notification Nos. 19/2022-Customs (N.T) dated 30.03.2022 latest amended vide 06/2024- Customs (N.T.) New Delhi, dated the 19.01.2024. [Refer Circular No. 09/2023-Customs dated 30.03.2023] 9. Implementation of Use of ICETABs for efficient examination and Customs clearance:- CBIC has launched the new version of ICETAB from 23.08.2024, which has an exclusive Mobile Application to enable examining officers to view RMS Instructions, Examination Order, Bill of Entry (BE) details along with other supporting documents, capture images of cargo examination for integration with the Bill of Entry and submit examination report immediately on completion of the cargo examination. With this launch, the examination order will be seamlessly available to Examining officer on ICETAB. Accordingly, there will be no requirement for any paper documents for the purpose of carrying out examination. [Refer Circular No. 10/2024-Customs dated 20.08.2024] 10. Exchange Rate Automation Module :- Indian Customs has always been at the forefront when it comes to adopting cutting edge technology for providing better services. In this regard, Board has launched the Exchange Rate Automation Module and the modalities has been explained in Circular 07/2024-Cus dated 25.06.2024. The exchange rates shall be published on ICEGATE website at 6.00 p.m. twice a month (i.e. 1st 3rd Thursday of every month) and shall be accessible for public viewing on ICEGATE website. Thus, the automated system has now replaced the manual process of publication of exchange rates. 3.3 Other Initiatives 1. Sea Cargo Manifest and Transshipment Regulations (SCMTR): Vide Notification No.38/2018-Customs (N.T.) dated 11.05.2018 the Sea Cargo Manifest and Transshipment Regulations (SCMTR), 2018, were notified. The SCMTR seek to bring about transparency, predictability of movement, advance collection of information for expeditious clearance and supersedes the earlier regulations viz. Import Manifest (Vessels) Regulations, 1971 and Export Manifest (Vessels) Regulation, 1976. The new Regulations stipulate for advance notice by authorized carriers for goods arriving in or being exported out of India through gateway seaports and further movement between Customs stations. They stipulate the obligations, roles and responsibilities for the various stakeholders involved in movement of imported/export goods. The implementation plan and timelines for mandatory compliance pertaining to stakeholders such as ASC/ASA (Authorized Sea Carriers/Sea Agents), ANC (Other Notified Carriers- like Freight forwarders, NVOCCs etc.) and ATP (Authorized Transhippers), and the documents to be filed by them have been laid down in annexure to Circular No.43/2020-Customs dated 30th September, 2020. To provide time for readiness of the Systems and stakeholders, a transitional arrangement was introduced through Regulation 15 to file in the old format in addition to the new format during this transitional arrangement. This arrangement got postponed since 2018 due to various reasons including COVID. The SCMTR was introduced in a phased manner at Mormugao (10.09.2024), Mangalore (30.09.2024), Mumbai Kandla (15.10.2024) in terms of Notification 54/2024 dated 31.08.2024, Tuticorin Vishakhapatnam (15.11.2024) and Ennore, Kattupalli Cochin (30.11.2024) in terms of Notification No. 74/2024-Customs dated 30.10.2024. Further, considering the issues faced by trade as well as field formations in filling of certain SCMTR messages, the implementation of the said regulations has been extended till 31st March, 2025. [Refer Circular No. 43/2020-Cus. dated 30.09.2020, Notifications No. 57/2024-Customs dated 31.08.2024, No. 74/2024-Customs dated 30.10.2024, and No. 02/2025-Customs (N.T.) dated 15.01.2025] 2. Mandatory filing of documents in SCMTR by Custodians : Board has decided that messages by the Custodian i.e., Stuffing Message (SF), ASR Filing, DP Filing and AR filing by the Custodians and VCN message by the Terminal Operators mandatorily required to be filed w.e.f. 20th July 2021. [Refer Circular No. 12/2021- Cus. dated 30.06.2021] 3. Re-export permission: With a view to expedite decision-making in respect of re-export of when the said goods are destined elsewhere but which are inadvertently imported at a particular Customs station, the Board has decided that the permission for re-export may be granted on merit by the officer concerned as per the adjudication powers as per Section 122 of the Customs Act, 1962. [Refer Circulars No.24/2011-Cus., dated 31.5.2011 and No.4/2015-Cus dated 20.1.2015] 4. CRCL Module - Forwarding of samples using electronic Test Memo to CRCL and other Revenue Laboratories: As detailed in circular No. 46/2020- Customs dated 15.10.2021, CRCL and other Revenue Laboratories have been upgraded with several new, state of the art equipment, thereby enabling the testing of a wider variety of commodities in lesser time, with greater accuracy. For details, the CRCL brochure available at www.crcl.gov.in may be perused. In order to further ease the testing process, DG Systems has enabled a CRCL module in ICES with the objective of automating all paperwork related to sampling, forwarding of test memos to CRCL and other Revenue Laboratories, and electronic receipt of test reports, instantly by the Customs Officers. The officials of CRCL and other Revenue Laboratories have been provided access for both import and export functionalities in the CRCL module. The CRCL module is also seamlessly integrated with current modules of ICES. [Refer Circular No.46/2020-Customs dated 15.10.2020 and Instruction No.14/2021-Customs dated 21.06.2021] 5. CCFC: Board has set up a Customs Clearance Facilitation Committee (CCFC) at every major Customs seaport, airport, Customs Preventive Commissionerate (Land Customs Stations) and Commissionerate having jurisdiction over Inland Container Depot, which is chaired by the Principal Commissioner of Customs/Commissioner of Customs concerned. Its membership includes the senior-most functionary of the departments/agencies/stakeholder at the particular seaport/airport namely,(i) Food Safety Standards Authority of India/Port Health Officer (PHO), (ii) Plant Quarantine Authorities, (iii) Animal Quarantine Authorities, (iv) Drug Controller of India (CDSO), (v) Textile Committee, (vi) Port Trust / Airport Authority of India / Land Ports Authority of India (for CCFC in LCSs),(vii) Custodians, (viii) Forest and Wild Life Authorities, (ix) Railways/CONCOR, (x) Border Security Agencies (for CCFC in LCSs), (xi) Pollution Control Board and (xii) any other Department / Agency / stakeholder to be co-opted on need basis. The CCFC is required to meet once a week or more frequently, if needed, as per the following mandate: (i) Ensuring and monitoring expeditious clearance of imported and export goods in accordance with the timeline specified by the parent ministry/Department concerned; (ii) Identifying and resolving bottlenecks, if any, in the clearance procedure of imported and export goods; (iii) Initiating Time Release Studies for improvement in the clearance time of imported and export goods; (iv) Having internal consultations to speed up the clearance process of imported and export goods and recommending best practices thereto for consideration of CBIC / Departments / Agencies concerned; and (v) Resolving grievances of members of the trade and industry in regard to clearance process of imported and export goods. [Refer Circulars No. 13/2015-Customs, dated 13.4.2015; No. 44/2016-Cus dated 22.09.2016.For more details of CCFC, please refer Chapter 33] 6. Encouraging Women participation in International Trade: The Board has issued Circular No. 02/2024-Customs dated 08.03.2024 to encourage the representation of women in trade at all levels be it as traders, customs house agents, freight forwarders, or customs brokers and gave following directions to all zones: (i) ensure Representation of women in the Permanent Trade Facilitation Committee (PTFC) and Customs Clearance Facility Committee (CCFC) meetings, preferably through women associations, (ii) ensure inclusion of at least one agenda point from women perspective, (iii) encourage the Trade bodies/ custodians to establish dedicated help desks and processing, mechanisms for women traders and women logistics service providers and (iv) support in upskilling women logistics service providers, freight forwarders and custom brokers by offering relevant trainings for women. [Refer Circular No. 02/2024-Customs dated 08.03.2024]