COURIER IMPORTS AND EXPORTS (ELECTRONIC DELCARATION AND PROCESSING) REGULATIONS, 2010

[Mr. M. GOVINDARAJAN]

The Central Board of Direct Taxes, in exercise of powers conferred by Section 157 of the Customs Act, 1962, the made ‘Courier Imports and Exports (Electronic Declaration and processing) Regulations, 2010 (‘Regulations’ for short) and came into effect from 05.05.2010.   The regulation was amended by Notification No. 26/2011-Cus (NT), dated 01.04.2011 and clarified by Circular No. 21/2011-Cus(NT) dated 18.4.2011. 

APPLICABILITY:

These regulations shall apply for assessment and clearance of imported or export goods, carried by an Authorized Courier by air, on behalf of a consignee or consignor at such customs airports and in such form and to such extent, as the Board may, by notification, declare for the purpose of these regulations in this behalf.

These regulations shall not apply to-

• The following imported goods requiring testing of samples thereof or reference to the relevant statutory authorities or to experts before their clearance, namely:-

-          Animals and parts thereof, plants and parts thereof;

-          Perishables;

-          Publications containing maps depicting incorrect boundaries of India;

-          Precious and semi-precious stones, gold or silver in any form.

• Import or export of goods under export promotion scheme other than Export Oriented Unit (EOU) scheme and similar schemes referred to in Chapter 6 of Foreign Trade Policy 2009-14;
• The following export goods, namely:-

-          The goods which are subject to levy of any duty on their exports;

-          Goods where the value of the consignment is above Rs.25,000/- and transaction in foreign exchange is involved.  This limitation shall not apply to such consignments where the G.R. waiver or specific permission has been obtained from Reserve Bank of India.

REGISTRATION OF AUTHORIZED COURIER:

Regulation 3(1)(b) defines the terms ‘Authorized courier’ in relation to imported or export goods as a person engaged in the international transportation of time sensitive documents or goods on door-to-door delivery basis and is registered in this behalf by a Commissioner of Customs in charge of a customs airport.

The following is the procedure for registration of authorized courier:

• Any person who wants to operate as Authorized dealer shall make an application in Form – I to the Commissioner of Customs having jurisdiction over the Customs Airport where the goods are to be imported or exported;
• The applicant shall produce a certificate issued by a scheduled bank or such other proof acceptable to the Commissioner of Customs evidencing possession of assets of a value not less than Rs.25 lakhs;
• The electronic declaration for clearance of imported or export goods shall be made by the persons who has passed the examination referred to in regulation 8 or regulation 19 of the Customs House Agents Licensing Regulations, 2004; (‘Electronic declaration’ means the declaration of the particulars to the imported or export goods, lodged in the Customs Computer system at the Customs airport, either through the data-entry facility provided at the service centre or through the data communication networking facility provided from the computer system of the authorized counter)
• The applicant shall undertake to comply with the provisions and abide by all the provisions of the Act and rules, regulations, notifications and orders issued there under;
• On receipt of application, the Commissioner may make enquiries for verification of the particulars set out in the application and also such other enquiries as the Commissioner may deem necessary for such registration including enquiries about the identity, bonafides and reputation of the applicant;
• If the Commissioner is satisfied that the applicant fulfils the requirements of the registration the applicant may be registered as an Authorized Courier;
• The Commissioner may dispose of the application within 45 days from the date of receipt of the application;
• The Commissioner may, if he finds that the applicant has been convicted in any court of law, or any criminal proceedings are pending before any court of law against the applicant, reject the application;
• The registration certificate is valid for an initial period of two years;
• The authorized courier shall comply with the conditions within a period which shall not exceed a period of three months.  The Commissioner may extend the said period which shall not exceed a period of nine months;
• An Authorized Courier who is already registered under Courier Imports and Exports (Clearance) Regulations, 1998 on or before the date of coming into force of these regulations in a Customs Airport, shall be considered as an Authorized Courier registered for the purpose of these regulations only on compliance of the conditions fulfilled for the eligibility;  The registration granted under this aspect shall be valid for a period ten years;
• The Authorized Courier shall transact business  in other Customs airports within the country subject to an intimation, as specified in Form J to the Commissioner of Customs having jurisdiction over the customs airport where he intends to transact business;
• The Commissioner may require the applicant to enter into a bond with a security of Rs.10 lakhs in case of major international airports of Mumbai, Delhi, Calcutta and Chennai and Rs.5 lakhs in case of other airports in the form of cash deposit or bank guarantee in the name of the Commissioner of Customs for complying with the provisions of the Act, rules and regulations made there under and the condition of the said bond shall also be that the applicant shall agree to pay the duty, if any, not levied or short levied with interest if applicable on any goods taken clearance of by the Authorized Courier if in the opinion of the Assistant Commissioner of Customs or Deputy Commissioner or Customs the same cannot be recovered from the importer or exporter.

RENEWAL:

The registration certificate may be renewed from time to time.  The Commissioner may, on application made before the expiry of the validity of registration renew the registration for a period of ten years from the date of expiration of the original registration or the last renewal of such registration, as the case may be, if the performance of the Authorized Courier is found to be satisfactory with reference to the absence of any complaints of misconduct including non compliance of any of the obligations specified in these regulations.

REVIEW:

The Commission may, for reasons, recorded to be in writing, by order, review the registration granted to the Authorized Courier before the expiry of ten years.

SUSPENSION OR REVOCATION OF REGISTRATION:

The Commissioner may revoke the registration of the Authorized Courier and also pass an order for forfeiture of security on any of the following grounds:

• Failure to comply with any of the conditions of the bond executed by the Authorized Courier;
• Failure to comply with any of the provisions of these regulations;
• Misconduct whether within the jurisdiction of Commissioner or anywhere else, which in the opinion of the Commissioner renders him unfit to transact any business in the Customs airport;

No revocation of registration shall be made unless a notice has been issued to him informing him the grounds on which it is proposed to revoke the registration and he is given an opportunity of making a representation in writing and a further opportunity of being heard in the matter, if so desired.

In case the Commissioner considers that any of such grounds against an Authorized Courier shall not be established prima facie without an inquiry in the matter, he may conduct an inquiry to determine the ground and in the meanwhile pending the completion of such enquiry, may suspend the registration.  If no ground is established against the Authorized Courier the registration so suspended shall be restored.

If the Authorized Courier is aggrieved by the order of Commissioner may represent to the Chief Commissioner  in writing against such order within 60 days of communication of the order and the Chief Commissioner shall, after providing the opportunity of being heard to the parties concerned, dispose of the representation as expeditiously as may be possible. taxmanagementindia.com

CLEARANCE OF IMPORTED GOODS:

• The Authorized Courier or his agent shall file, in an electronic form, a manifest for imported goods prior to its arrival with the proper officer the Express Cargo Manifest (ECM-I) in Form A;
• The imported goods shall be packed separately for documents and goods and shall bear a declaration from the sender or consignor regarding the contents of each of the packages and the total value thereof;
• The courier packages shall not be dealt with in any manner except as may be directed by the Commissioner; No person shall, except with the permission of proper officer, open any packages of imported goods;
• The Authorized Courier or his agent shall make entry of goods imported by him, in an electronic declaration, by presenting to the proper officer the Courier Bill of Entry – XI (CBE-XI) for documents in Form B or the Courier Bill of Entry – XII (CBE XII) for free gifts and samples in Form C or the Courier Bill of Entry –XIII (CBE XIII) for low value dutiable consignments in Form D or the Courier Bill of Entry – XIV (CBE – XIV) for other dutiable consignments in Form E;
• The Authorized Courier shall present imported goods in such manner to the satisfaction of the proper officer or as per his instructions issued by the Board or Public Notice issued by the Commissioner, from time to time, for inspection, screening, examination and assessment thereof;
• Any imported goods which are not cleared after the expiry of a period of 30 days of its arrival, shall be detained by proper officer and shall be sold or disposed of by the person having custody thereof, after issuing a notice to the Authorized Courier and to the declared importer, if any, and the charges payable for storage and holding of such goods shall be payable by the Authorized Courier.

CLEARANCE OF EXPORT GOODS:

• The Authorized Courier or his agent shall file in an electronic form, a manifest for export goods before the export with the proper officer the Courier Export Manifest (CEM) in Form F;
• The courier packages containing the export goods shall not be dealt with after presentation of documents to the proper officer in any manner except as may be directed by the Commissioner;
• No person shall, except with the permission of proper officer, open any package of export goods, brought into the Customs area, to be loaded on a flight;
• The Authorized Courier or his agent shall make entry of goods for export in Courier Shipping Bill – III (CSB-III) for documents in Form G or, as the case may be, in the Courier Shipping Bill –IV (CSB IV) for goods in Form H before presenting it to the proper officer;
• The Authorized Courier shall present the export goods to the proper officer, in the such manner as to the satisfaction of the proper officer or as per the instructions issued by the Board or Public notice issued by the Commissioner of Customs, from time to time for inspection, screening, examination and assessment thereof;
• Any export goods brought into customs area for export purpose and have not been exported within 7 days of arrival of such goods into such area or within such extended period as permitted by the proper officer in case of delay due to such reasons which the proper officer considers to be beyond the control of the concerned Authorized Courier and declared exporter, may be detained by the proper officer and sold or disposed off by the person having custody thereon, after issuing notice to the concerned Authorized Courier and declared exporter provided the charges payable, for storage and handling of such goods are paid by the Authorized Courier.

OBLIGATIONS OF AUTHORIZED DEALER:

An Authorized Courier shall comply with the following obligations:

• To obtain an authorization, from each of the consignees or consignors of the imported goods for whom or from whom such courier has imported such goods, or consignees or consignors of such export goods which such courier proposes to export, to the effect that the Authorized Courier may act as agent of such consignee or consignor, as the case may be, for clearance of such imported or export goods by the proper officer;
• For import of documents, gifts and samples and low value dutiable consignments for which declarations have been filed, the authorization may be obtained at the time of delivery of the consignment to consignee subject to the production of consignors’ authorization at pre-clearance stage and retention of authorization obtained from the consignee for a period of one year or date of Audit by Customs, whichever is earlier;
• To file electronic declarations for clearance of imported or export goods;
• To advise his consignor or consignee to comply with the provisions of the Act, rules and regulations made there under and in case of non compliance thereof, he shall bring the matter to the notice of the Assistant Commissioner or Deputy Commissioner;
• To verify the antecedent, correctness of Importer Exporter Code (IEC) Number, identity of his client and the functioning of his client in the declared addressed by using reliable, independent , authentic documents, data of information;
• To exercise due diligence to ascertain the correctness and completeness of any information which he submits to the proper officer with reference to any work related to the clearance of imported goods or of export goods;
• Not withhold information communicated to him by an officer, relating to assessment and clearance of imported goods as well as inspection, examination and clearance of export goods from a consignor or consignee who is entitled to such information;
• Not withhold any information relating to assessment and clearance of imported goods or of export goods, from the Assessing Officer;
• Not attempt to influence the conduct of any officer in any matter pending before such officer or his subordinates by the use of threat, false accusation, duress or offer of any special inducement or promise of advantage or by the bestowing of any gift or favor or other thing or value;
• To maintain records and accounts for a period of 5 years and submit them for inspection to the authorities wherever required; and
• To abide by all the provisions of the Act and the rules, regulations, notifications and orders issued there under.

PENALTIES:

An Authorized Courier, who contravenes any of the provisions of these regulations or abets such contravention or who fails to comply with any provision of these regulations with which it was his obligation to comply, shall be liable to a penalty which may extend to Rs.50,000/-.