Implementation of Indian Customs EDI System 1.5 (ICES 1.5) at ICD, Bangalore - Reg. - Customs - 40/2010

OFFICE OF THE COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS BANGALORE CUSTOMS COMMISSIONERATE C.R.BUILDINGS, QUEEN'S ROAD, BANGALORE - 560001 C.No. VIII/48/56/2008 Cus Tech Systems Date: 04.06.2010 PUBLIC NOTICE NO. 40/2010 Sub: Implementation of Indian Customs EDI System 1.5 (ICES 1.5) at ICD, Bangalore - Reg. Attention of the Importers, Exporters, CHAS, Trade and all other agencies concerned is invited to the following Public Notices/Trade Facilities issued by the Commissioner of Customs, Bangalore regarding computerized processing of Export/Import documents under Indian Customs EDI System and subsequent Public Notices/Trade Facilities issued from time to time: (i) Trade Facility No.08/2005 dated 12-01-2005 - Procedure for online payment of customs duties under the Indian Customs EDI System (ICES) - Imports at Air Cargo Complex, Bangalore - Implementation of the Pilot Project Phase I (ii) Public Notice No. 17/2005 dated 15-02-2005 - Computerized Processing of Bills of Entry under the Indian Customs EDI System-Imports (ICES/I) at ICD, Whitefield, Bangalore. (iii) Public Notice No.47/2005 dated 29-03-2005 - Procedure for Computerized processing of Bills of Entry under the Indian Customs EDI System (ICES) - Imports at ICD, Bangalore. (vi) Public Notice No.64/2005 dated 19-05-2005 - Bank Realization Certificate (BRC) verification module for EDI System - Exports (ICES/I) at Air Cargo Complex/ICD, Bangalore. (v) Trade Facility No. 168/2005 dated 14-12-2005 - Procedure for computerized processing of Unaccompanied Baggage under EDI System. (vi) Trade Facility No.33/2007 dated 30-03-2007 - Procedure for E-Payment of Customs duties under the Indian Customs EDI System (ICES) Imports at Air Cargo Complex, Bangalore. (vii) Public Notice No.39/2009 dated 30-06-2009 - Online Transmission of Licenses/Authorizations issued under Duty Exemption Scheme (DES) and Export Promotion Capital Goods Scheme (EPCG). (viii) Public Notice No.47/2009 dated 13-08-2009 Up-gradation of server at Inland Container Depot, Bangalore. (ix) Public Notice No.49/2009 dated 24-08-2009 - Customs clearances at Air Cargo Complex, Bangalore - Introduction of automated system generated allocation of duties in import/export shed and regulating the working hours. 2. Currently, ICES operations at ICD, Whitefield, Bangalore are being implemented on a standalone system on which LAN based connectivity has been provided to concerned Customs Officers, Service Centres and designated bank. The system is being managed by the officials from the National Informatics Centre. 3. As part of the implementation of CBEC's IT Consolidation Project, the EDI operations at ICD, Whitefield, Bangalore would be shifted to ICES 1.5, an enhanced/modified version of the application software currently operational. This software developed by NIC, would be implemented at CBEC's National Data Centre at New Delhi. The System Integrator for the project is M/s. TCS. The application would cater to the needs of Customs officials at ICD, Whitefield, Bangalore, as also the Service Centre operators, who would be working on CBEC's new Local Area Network infrastructure implemented by M/s.HP Sales India Private Limited. Connectivity to the Central Serers at the National Data Centre has been provided through CBEC's MPLS network, as part of the Wire Area Networking project implemented by a consortium led by M/s.BSNL Limited. 4. The State Bank of India, branch at ICD, Whitefield, Bangalore would be connected to Central Server of designated bank through Internet and the bank system would interact with CBEC's Central Server through EDI messages. The Service Centres at ICD, Whitefield, Bangalore would continue to be managed by M/s.CMC, under arrangement with CBEC and there would be no change in the existing charges. Until implementation of EDI message exchange at ICD, Whitefield, Bangalore custodians would now file Train Summary for export containers through the Service Centre operators. An authorized representative of the custodian would sign the checklist and this copy shall be kept in records at the Service Centre to complete the above submission process. 5. The implementation of the new application would entail certain changes in the existing Customs systems and procedures at ICD, Whitefield, Bangalore. These are being listed below for ease of reference: (a) The enquiry (document status) facility to users of Service Centre would include document submission status (fresh and amendment) and query' status. ICEGATE Document Tracking System (DTS) would also continue to be available. (b) It may be noted that print out of processed Bills of Entry and Duty payment challans would continue to be obtained by users from Service Centre. However, printout of 'Out of Charge' Bills of Entry and Let Export and EP copies of Shipping Bills would now be provided by the customs officer(s) designated for the purpose, instead of by the Service Centre operator. (c) It may be noted that since the document numbers are to be assigned by the Central Server at a national level, once other ICES 1.5 sites are operational, all document numbers e.g. for Bills of Entry, Shipping Bills, IGMs, EGMs, challans, would not be in a continuous series for each location. (d) The duty payment challans would now be provided to the designated Bank through electronic messaging and the bank in turn would electronically confirm payment details to ICES 1.5 system. (e) State Bank of India, ICD, Whitefield branch is advised that the Desk Manager handling challans pertaining to the above locations should ensure that the challans accepted on 05-06-2010 by the cash officer are either accepted or rejected. There should not be any document pending in the Cash Manager's queue at end of day on 05-06-2010 since data from this queue will not be migrated as part of the migration of ICES operations to data centre. (f) The Custodian should note that all Train summaries which have been filed through Sen/ice Centre should be submitted in the system failing which these details will have to be reentered after migration to data centre. (g) For Service Centre operations it may be noted that all documents entered in the Service Centre and pending for submission must be submitted prior to 05-06-2010 failing which these would have to be re-entered after migration of ICES operations to Data Centre. For instance, if for a shipping bill, a job has been entered and not submitted prior to 05-062010 it would have to be entered after migration of operations to data centre. (h) As in the case of Import documents, CHAs filing Export documents would be required to use their PAN based registration numbers, provided by the Policy Section of Import and General Commissionerate, New Custom House, New Delhi. (i) It may be noted that now in ICES 1.5 generation of temp scroll will be mandatory for dbk scroll generation. (j) The specifications for EDI messages for Bill of Entry and Shipping Bills for users filing documents through internet are available on the ICEGATE website: http://www.icegate.gov.in/ICES1.5htm. Details of the implementation have also been shared on 10-12-2009 in a meeting of ICEGATE users with Directorate General of Systems. (k) Release advice against various licences will be issued manually. 6. Regarding Helpdesk facilities the following may be noted: (a) ICEGATE users would continue to interact with the Helpdesk at 011-23379020 and 01123370133. This Helpdesk is managed by M/s.Wipro. (b) Users requiring any other clarifications regarding the new application may interact with the TCS Helpdesk on Toll Free 1800-266-2232. Users may also directly contact System Manager, ICD, Whitefield, Bangalore or the following designated Customs officers in case of any difficulty: (1) Shri B.P.Sinha, Additional Commissioner of Customs, ICD, Whitefield, Bangalore 080-28454417 (office) (2) Shri P.M.Mohiyuddin, Deputy Commissioner of Customs, ICD, Whitefield, Bangalore - 080-28453451 (office) (3) Shri R.Rahul, Assistant Commissioner of Customs, ICD, Whitefield, Bangalore 080-28450321 (office) 7. It is proposed to commence live operation of the new application from the National Data Centre at the earliest. Consequently all Customs operations on the existing ICD, Whitefield, Bangalore server would cease with effect from end of day of 05-06-2010 (evening). All clearances from end of day of 05-06-2010 till date of launch of application from Data Centre would be handled manually. The date of commencement of ICES 1.5 will be informed to all concerned in due course. 8. It may be mentioned that the scheduled implementation at ICD, Whitefield, Bangalore is the implementation for ICES 1.5. After successful implementation of this project, the new application will be rolled out at other locations across the country. It is expected that this will greatly facilitate clearance of cargo, reduce time taken for clearance, and improve the efficiency of Customs officers. As this would be a launch of ICES 1.5, users may like to provide feedback for improvement in the working of the system. CBEC would also be making further modifications in the system to enhance functionality of the system and these changes would be notified from time to time. 9. Difficulties, if any, faced by the trade may be brought to the notice of the Systems Manager, ICD, Whitefield, Bangalore. 10. This issues with the approval of Commissioner of Customs, Bangalore. (A.M. SARVI) ADDITIONAL COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS HQRS., BANGALORE