Practice of issuance of Procurement Certificate (P.C) and obtaining countersignature of Jurisdictional AC/DC - Customs - DGEP/FTP/07/2015

DGEP/FTP/07/2015 Govt. of India Ministry of Finance Department of Revenue Central Board of Excise Customs 15 th February, 2016 To All Principal Chief Commissioners/ Chief Commissioners of Central Excise, Customs Service Tax, All Principal Chief Commissioners/Chief Commissioners of Customs, All Principal Chief Commissioners/Chief Commissioners of LTU. Sir, Sub: Practice of issuance of Procurement Certificate (P.C) and obtaining countersignature of Jurisdictional AC/DC. The duty free imports by EOUs are governed by Notification No.52/2003Cus dated 31.03.2003 as amended. The authority to issue the Procurement certificate (PC), allowing such duty free imports, has been delegated to the Superintendent in charge by the Board, vide Circular No.84/2001-Cus dated 21-12-2001 and further relaxed by allowing issue of pre-authenticated PCs by the Superintendents, vide Circular No.17/2006-Cus dated 1.6.2006 to the units satisfying the criteria specified therein. 2. It has been brought to the notice of the Board by EOU/STPI/EHTP units that some field formations are still following the practice of countersignature of PCs by AC/DC, which is at variance with the instructions by the Board. Further, the countersignature by AC/DC is only adding one more level officer to the procedure specified and is adversely affecting ease of doing business. 3. The said problem has already been addressed vide Circular No.84/2001Cus dated 21-12-2001 and Circular No.17/2006-Cus dated 1.6.2006 read with DGEP circular no 19/2015 cus dated 9/6/2015. However for ease of field formations, the Board s instructions on the issue are reiterated as follows:- i. In order to mitigate the difficulties of the units it has been decided that henceforth the procurement certificates to the EOUs and units in EPZ/STP/ETHP/SEZ except for those in textile and chemical sectors would be issued by the jurisdictional Superintendent of Customs or Central Excise. However, in respect of units in chemical and textile sector the procurement certificate would continue to be issued by the jurisdictional Assistant/Deputy Commissioner of Customs or Central Excise. The jurisdictional Superintendent before issue of procurement certificate would ensure that the consignment under clearance is covered by the Bond amount. ii. EOUs having a status holder certificate under the Foreign Trade Policy shall be eligible for the Fast Track Clearance Procedure under para 6.39 (Now para 6.40 ) of Hand Book of Procedure (HBP) . To give effect to the provisions under para 6.39.3 (now para 6.40 (c) ) of HBP , the Board has decided to extend the facility of importing goods without payment of duty on the basis of pre-authenticated procurement certificate to the units having physical export turnover of ₹ 10 crores and above in the preceding financial year and having a clean track record. The request to issue pre-authenticated procurement certificate will be submitted to the jurisdictional Asstt./Dy. Commissioner of Customs/Central Excise. After examination of the request, the Asstt./Dy. Commissioner of Customs/Central Excise may issue direction to the jurisdictional Superintendent to issue the pre-authenticated procurement certificate to the unit in a booklet form with running serial number calendar year wise. These pre-authenticated PC should not be sent to AC/DC again for their countersignature. The unit shall ensure that the consignment under clearance under such pre-authenticated procurement certificate is covered by the Bond amount under B-17 Bond. The procedure of inbond movement, examination, bonding and issue of re-warehousing certificate will be followed as usual. 4. Board has desired that these instructions should be strictly followed. Yours faithfully, (Dr. Tejpal Singh) Addl. Dir. General