Provisions to be followed for factory stuffing permission to manufacturers and merchant exporters - Central Excise - PUBLIC NOTICE NO. 01/2015

OFFICE OF THE COMMISSIONER CUSTOMS, CENTRAL EXCISE SERVICE TAX AGRA COMMISSIONERATE, 113/4, SANJAY PLACE, AGRA- 282002 CENTRAL BOARD OF EXCISE CUSTOMS, DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE MINISTRY OF FINANCE, GOVERNMENT OF INDIA C. No. VIII (48)09-Cus/FSP.Shri Sita Ram/2015/2724-29 Dated: 28.04.2015 PUBLIC NOTICE NO. 01/2015 Sub: Provisions to be followed for factory stuffing permission to manufacturers and merchant exporters Please find mentioned below provisions to followed for factory stuffing permission to manufacturers and merchant exporters and verification required to be under taken in this regard. It is directed that Dy/Assistant Commissioners posted at Divisions/ICD falling under the jurisdiction of Agra Commissionerate shall examine the permission granted in the light of provisions mentioned below. The permission given to the manufactures and merchant exporters for factory stuffing will be one time but shall be reviewed on six monthly basis by the jurisdictional Deputy/Assistant Commissioner in order to eliminate any misuse of this facility. The provisions to be followed shall be as listed below: 1 All the exporters who seek FSP shall submit their application in duplicate in Annexure-A of this Public Notice, directly to the jurisdictional Assistant /Deputy Commissioner. The exporter shall fill all details in the Annexure A and write not applicable if any field is not applicable to him. The exporter shall also furnish a list of Customs Stations from where he intends to export his goods. Copies of following documents should be submitted along with the application:- (i) IEC issued to them by DGFT (ii) PAN Card and Central Excise Registration Certificate ( if applicable) (iii) Status Holder Certificate (if any) (iv) RCMC certificate for non-excisable goods, if any. All of these documents shall be duly certified by authorized signatory of the exporter. 2. In terms of Board's Circular No. 860/18/2007-CX dated 22.11.2007 self-sealing of export of goods has been mandatory for the manufacturer-exporters (whether status holder or not) who export such goods under free shipping bills. Therefore, LoFSP will not be granted to the manufacturer- exporters exporting goods under free shipping bills. However, they can opt for factory stuffing of export goods under export incentive schemes and permission will be given scheme-wise. 3. In case of non-status holder manufacturer exporters operating under any of export incentive schemes i.e. in case of exports other than under free shipping bills, the LoFSP will be granted only on receipt of prior verification report regarding the genuineness of existence and functioning of the units and the No objection Certificate from the concerned jurisdictional Central Excise Authorities regarding deputing of officers for supervising the export stuffing. The genuineness of the IEC will also be confirmed from DGFT before issue of LoFSP. 4. Similarly, in case of non-status holders merchant exporter the LoFSP will be granted only on receipt of prior verification report regarding the genuineness of the existence and functioning of the units and No objection Certificate from the concerned jurisdictional Central Excise Authorities regarding deputing of officers for supervising the export stuffing. The genuineness of the IEC of the exporter will also be confirmed from DGFT website before issue of LoFSP. 5. In case of status-holder merchant and manufacturer exporters, the LoFSP will be granted provisionally which will be valid for 30 days and within such period the verification reports i.e. NOC from the concerned jurisdictional Central Excise Authorities regarding deputing of officers for supervising the export stuffing and verification report regarding the genuineness of the existence and functioning of the unit shall be submitted by them failing which the permission will stand automatically cancelled. 6. While forwarding the feasibility/Verification report and recommending the factory stuffing permission, the jurisdictional Deputy/Assistant Commissioner, Central Excise Division is required to sign all the pages of the feasibility report. The feasibility/verification report shall be forwarded directly to the Assistant/Deputy Commissioner (Customs) HQ Agra Commissionerate in a sealed cover along with one copy of the complete application of the exporter and copy of the documents as mentioned above at I(i) to I(iv). The report to the AC/DC(CUSTOMS) Agra Commissionerate, may be furnished within ten working days from the receipt of the application from the exporter by the jurisdictional Deputy/Assistant Commissioner, Central Excise Division. 7. In case the feasibility/ verification report furnished by the Central Excise authorities is satisfactory, the Assistant/ Deputy Commissioner (Customs) Agra, may issue the LoFSP, to the exporter within ten working days of the receipt of the feasibility/verification report. All the permissions shall be given a unique running serial number to keep a track of such permissions granted. 8. The letter conveying FSP shall be addressed not only to the applicant exporter but also to the Jurisdictional Deputy/Assistant Commissioner, Central Excise Division who has recommended the permission. A copy each of the same shall also be circulated to all the Customs Houses for which the permission has been sought by the exporter. 9. The Central Excise officers supervising the examination and stuffing of the cargo are required to follow the Examination Order and INSTRUCTIONS as being already followed. 10. The exporters clearing goods under the factory stuffing permission shall invariably produce, at the time of goods registration at the port of export, a copy of the letter of FSP duly attested by the jurisdictional Central Excise officer along with the ARE-I and other documents. 11.(i) A single factory stuffing permission shall be granted which shall be valid for all the customs stations from where the exporter proposes to export. (Circular 20/2010-Cus dated 22.07.2010 of The CBEC refers). The permission shall be granted by the Deputy/Assistant Commissioner (Customs), Headquarters Agra, who shall issue letter of FSP to all the eligible exporters. (ii) In case of merchant- exporters, the permission shall be granted for the following goods:- a) All goods in the factory of production whether or not such goods are excisable; b) Perishable frozen sea foods/fish/meat/similar items and agricultural/ horticulture and similar goods; c) Articles of goods and pharmaceutical goods which require specialized packing in order to be protected from contamination, deterioration, etc; d) Glassware and similar articles of fragile nature. (iii) In case of merchant exporters exporting from a port in this Commissionerate for the first time, as a preventive measure, the genuineness of the merchant exporter shall be re- verified at the time of export by the Assessing Officer by the scrutiny of any three of following documents, which will have to be submitted by exporter or his Clearing Agent(CHA) to the Assessing Officer concerned. The documents are: (a) Copy of VAT/Sales Tax Registration/Exemption certificate. (b) A certificate from the Bank with whom the Bank Account is being maintained for the purpose of remittance of foreign exchange to the effect that account is being maintained Satisfactorily. (c) Where the bank account is less than 3 months old, details of other bank account held by the merchant exporter. (d) Details of past exports made from other ports if any. (e) Balance sheet of the previous year. (f) Copy of the last income tax return/ VAT or Sales Tax return filed. 12(i) Though the FSP is granted to manufacturer- exporters and others is one time, their track record will be monitored and reviewed six monthly by the jurisdictional D.C./A.C and a report to this extent should be submitted to D.C./A.C. Customs Hdqrs. Agra. The FSP on the recommendation of jurisdictional D.C./A.C may be cancelled forthwith by D.C./A.C Customs Hdqrs. Agra in cases of misuse and where any proceedings under Customs, Excise, Service Tax or any other allied Acts are initiated against the exporter. (ii) The concerned Divisions, if have any shortage of staff due to any reason may intimate the same to the AC/DC (Customs), Hdqrs Agra who may suspend/cancel the FSP granted due to shortage of staff with prior intimation to the exporter (15 days in advance) 13. In case of any difficulty, the matter may be brought to the notice of Deputy/ Assistant Commissioner (Customs) Commissionerate, Agra. COMMISSIONER CENTRAL EXCISE AGRA