Reconciliation of manual Cargo Manifest with Online Cargo manifest filed by Airlines - reg. - Customs - 03/2010

OFFICE OF THE COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS (EXPORTS) AIR CARGO COMPLEX, SAHAR, MUMBAI 400099 F.No. S/3-Misc/1/EGM-1/2010 Date : 05.02.2010 PUBLIC NOTICE NO. 03/2010 SUB: - Reconciliation of manual Cargo Manifest with Online Cargo manifest filed by Airlines - reg. Attention of the Airlines is invited to the Section 41 of the Customs Act, 1962 by which the person-in- charge of an Airline carrying export goods shall, before departure of flight from a customs station, deliver to the customs official an Export Manifest (hereinafter referred as EGM) in the prescribed form as detailed in Export Manifest (Aircraft) Regulations, 1976. The section 41 further prescribes that the person delivering the Export Manifest (EGM) shall at the foot thereof make and subscribe to a declaration to the truth of its contents. 2. At present, running EGM No. is being taken by the Airlines from Customs at passenger departure terminal of Mumbai Airport. The Airlines are filing EGM comprising of General Declaration, Passenger Manifest, Cargo Manifest list of private property of crew members with Airport Customs before departure of flight. A copy of Cargo Manifest is also submitted by the Airlines along with duplicate copy of S/Bs with Customs Batch Office of Air Cargo. The duplicate copy of Shipping Bills are signed by the Airlines after making endorsement of Flight no., Flight date EGM No. on it, thereby certifying export of goods. Cargo Manifest is also filed electronically by Airlines online through ICEGATE. Once online Cargo Manifest is filed, Airline gets electronic acknowledgement from EDI system in the form of Report on loading of EGM from EDI . The acknowledgement contains Status Flag against each Master Airway Bills (MAWBs) indicating whether EGM in respect of a MAWB has been submitted successfully or with certain errors. 3. In this connection, it is noticed that some Airlines do not take adequate steps to rectify EGM errors. Also in respect of some S/Bs it was noticed that some Airlines had not filed electronic EGM. This has also led to issuance of show cause notices by Customs to the Airlines for non filing or improper filing of EGM against certain S/Bs. All this shows that certain Airlines do not check that the details of Cargo Manifest filed electronically tally with that of manual copy of Cargo Manifest submitted to Batch Office at ACC. The reconciliation action on the part of the Airlines is also a logical necessity when Cargo Manifest is submitted electronically as well as manually. 4. In order to ensure that the particulars of online - Cargo Manifest filed by Airlines through ICEGATE reconcile with that of manual Cargo Manifest submitted to Customs, following procedural modification in filing of Cargo Manifest by the Airlines is being prescribed:- i) The existing practice of taking running EGM no., submission of EGM with Airport filing of Cargo Manifest electronically through ICEGATE by the Airlines shall continue. ii) The manual copy of Cargo Manifest along with relevant S/Bs shall continue to be submitted with the Batch Office of ACC. However, it shall also be accompanied by duly signed copy of EDI Cargo Manifest acknowledgement received by Airlines in the form of Report on loading of EGM from EDI . iii) But before submitting manual copy of Cargo Manifest with Batch Office, the Airline will reconcile the particulars of the online/electronic Cargo Manifest filed by them through ICEGATE with the particulars on manual copy of Cargo Manifest to ensure correctness and Airline shall make the following declaration on the bottom of manual copy of Cargo Manifest :- It is certified that particulars declared in the manual copy of Cargo Manifest of EGM NO. ------ dated ------ are complete, exact true to the best of our knowledge and that the particulars of Cargo Manifest filed by us online/electronically through ICEGATE for this EGM NO. have been reconciled by us and they tally in every respect with the manual copy of Cargo Manifest. Signature, Name Designation of authorized representative of Airlines iv) Customs Batch Office shall receive the manual copy of Cargo Manifest along with enclosures as prescribed above and shall issue the acknowledgement to the Airlines as a proof of submission of Cargo Manifest with them. The Batch Office shall ensure that particulars of submission of manual Cargo Manifest in the Batch Office are duly entered in the register being maintained in the Batch Office for this purpose. Any difficulty faced in this regard may be brought to the notice of this office. Sd/-05.02.2010 (Rajiv Talwar) Commissioner of Customs (Export)