Carriage of coastal cargo from one Indian port to another port in vessels carrying out coastal runs. - Customs - Public Notice No. 03/2018-19/CCP/JMR

OFFICE OF THE COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS (PREV.) SARDA HOUSE, BEDI BUNDAR ROAD, JAMNAGAR - 361008 F. No. VIII/48-188/Cus-T/18 Date: 08.02.2019 Public Notice No. 03/2018-19/CCP/JMR Sub: Carriage of coastal cargo from one Indian port to another port in vessels carrying out coastal runs. - reg. Attention is invited to Board s Circular No. 14/2016-cus dated 27.4.2016, with regard to Carriage of coastal cargo from one Indian port to another port in vessels carrying out coastal runs. 2. The Board has decided that: A. All Coastal Vessels carrying exclusively coastal goods and operating from coastal or EXIM berths shall be exempted from the provisions of Section 92, 93, 94, 95, 97 and sub-section (1) of section 98 of the Customs Act, 1962. The exemption trom the provisions of section 95 was not available earlier. A new notification No. 56/2016-Cus (N.T.) dated the 27th April 2016 has been issued in this regard. B. (i) In the case of coastal vessels loading or unloading coastal goods at EXIM berths, provisions of sections 30 41 of the Customs Act, 1962 have been made applicable. A new format for filing a coastal manifest in respect of such vessels has been notified vide notification No. 57/2016-Cus (N.T.) dated the 27th April 2016. The Master of the vessel or his agent shall submit as prescribed in notification No. 57/2016-Cus (N.T.) dated the 27th April 2016: (a) a coastal arrival manifest for the goods which are unloaded or meant to be carried forward to other destination ports (b) coastal departure manifest for the goods loaded including goods on board for other destinations (ii) The arrival and departure coastal manifests shall be prepared in duplicate. The original shall be submitted to the proper officer and duplicate would be retained by the Master of the vessel or his agent. The arrival manifest is submitted before the arrival of the vessel and the departure manifest is submitted before the departure of the vessel. C. The revised procedure shall apply to Indian vessels, Indian flag foreign vessels or foreign vessels eligible for cabotage relaxation vide No. SR 14020/5/2009-MG/CS/-Vol.VII dated 2.9.15 issued by the Ministry of Shipping. D. In the case of cabotage covered foreign vessels, the relaxation shall be co-terminous with the said order of the Ministry of Shipping. E. The container carrying coastal goods shall be clearly marked with the words For coastal Carriage Only on all sides. There shall be no examination of the coastal goods, the container shall be sealed with tamper proof one time bottle seal and then the same can be loaded on to the vessel. F. Non-containerised cargo shall also be allowed to be loaded on to the vessel provided it is clearly marked on the packing For Coastal Carriage Only to make it easily identifiable. G. The preventive officers with the prior approval of Additional Commissioner/ Joint Commissioner (preventive wing) may from time to time carry out random checks so as to ensure that no export goods or imported goods are inadvertently or by intention loaded onto such coastal vessels. H. Circular No. 40/97-Cus is hereby withdrawn. The existing procedure stipulated in Circular No. 15/2002-Cus insofar as the vessels carrying both EXIM and coastal cargo shall continue to be followed. 3. The instruction contained in the above circular should be followed scrupulously any deviation shall be viewed seriously. Sd/- (M.K. Srivastava) COMMISSIONER