Implementation of Indian Customs EDI System 1.5 (ICES 1.5) at Custom House, Tuticorin - Regarding. - Customs - 09/2010

MINISTRY OF FINANCE DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE OFFICE OF THE COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS CUSTOM HOUSE : NEW HARBOUR ESTATE, TUTICORIN - 628004 C.No. VIII/48/90/2010 EDI Date : 20.07.2010 PUBLIC NOTICE NO. 09/2010 Subject : Implementation of Indian Customs EDI System 1.5 (ICES 1.5) at Custom House, Tuticorin - Regarding. Attention of the; Importers, Exporters, CHAS, trade and all other agencies concerned is Invited to the following Facility Intimation / Public Notices issued by the. Commissioner of Customs, Tuticorin regarding computerized processing of Export / Import documents under Indian Customs EDI system, and Subsequent public notices issued from time to time (i) Public Notice No. 19/1999 dated 16.11.1999 issued by Trichy Customs Commissionerate, Subject : Procedure for computerized processing of Shipping Bills and submission of Shipping Bill through ICEGATE under the Indian; Customs EDI Systems (Imports) at Custom House, Tuticorin. (ii) Public Notice No. 58 / 2000 dated 27.11.2000, Subject : Procedure for computerized processing of Processing of Bills. of Entry and Submission of Bill of Entry through ICEGATE under the Indian Customs EDI Systems (Imports) at Custom House), Tuticorin. (iii) Public Notice No. 14/2007 dated 28.09.2007, Subject : Implementation of Risk Mangement System (RMS) in Import at Custom House, Tuticorin. (iv) Public Notice No. 21/2007 dated 20.12.2007, Subject : Procedure of e-payment of Customs Duties under the Indian Customs EDI System - ICES at Custom House, Tuticorin. 2. Currently, ICES operations at Custom House, Tuticorin are being implemented on the standalone system on which LAN based connectivity has been provided to the concerned Customs Officers, Service Centres and designated Bank. The system is being managed by officials from the National Informatics Centre. 3. As part of the implementation of CBEC s IT Consolidation Project, the EDI operations at Custom House, Tuticorin, 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 Custom House, Tuticorin, 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 Ltd. Connectivity to the Central servers at the National Data Centre has been provided through CBEC s MPLS network, as part of the Wide Area Networking Project implemented by a consortium led by M/s. BSNL Ltd. 4. The Indian Overseas Bank s Branch at Custom House, Tuticorin would be connected to Central Server of Indian Overseas Bank through Internet and the bank system would interact with CBEC s Central server through EDI messages. The Service Centres at Custom House, Tuticorin 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 Custom House, Tuticorin custodians would now file Truck 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 procedure at Custom House, Tuticorin. These are being listed below for ease of reference: a) The enquiry (documents status) facility of 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 the 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 the 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) Indian Overseas Bank is advised that the Desk Manager handling challans pertaining to the above location should ensure that the challans accepted on 23.07.2010 by the cash officer are either accepted or rejected. here should not be any document pending in the Cash Manager s queue at end of day on 23.07.2010 since data from this queue will not be migrated as part of the migration of ICES operations to data center. f) The Custodian should note that all Truck summaries which have been filed through Service Centre should be submitted in the system failing which these details will have to be re-entered 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 prior1to 231.07.2010 failing which these should have to the 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 23.07.2010 it would have to be entered after migration of operations to data centre. h) CHAs filing Import/Export documents would be required to use their PAN based registration numbers, provided by the CHA Section of Custom, Tuticorin as per the existing practice. 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 the messages for Bill of Entry and Shipping Bills of users filing documents through internet are available on The ICEGATE website : http://www.icegate.gov.in/ICES1.5 htm. k) Release advice against various licences will be issued manually. 6. Regarding Helpdesk facilities the following may be noted: a) ICAGATE users would continue to interact with the Helpdesk at 011-23379020 and 011-23370133.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 Custom House, Tuticorin or the following designated Customs Officers in Case of any difficulty: (i) Shri R. Jagannathan, Addl. Commissiner System Manager : Tel : 0461-2352078 (ii) Shri N. Venkataraman, Deputy Commissioner (EDI) : Tel : 0461-2354100 7. It is proposed to commence live operation of the new application from the National Data Centre from 26.07.2010. Consequently all Customs operations on the existing Custom House, Tuticorin server would cease with effect from end of day of 23.07.2010. All clearances from end of day of 23.07.2010 till date of launch of application from Data Centre would be handled manually. 8. It may be mentioned that the scheduled implementation at Custom House, Tuticorin is the implementation of 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 Custom; House, Tuticorin. Sd/xxxx COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS CUSTOM HOUSE : TUTICORIN Attested (R. JAGANNATHAN) ADDITION COMMISSIONER CUSTOM HOUSE, TUTICORIN