Faster assessment and clearance of goods under Faceless Assessment - Customs - PUBLIC NOTICE NO. - 135/2020

OFFICE OF THE COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS (NS-I), APPRAISING MAIN (IMPORT), JAWAHAR LAL NEHRU CUSTOM HOUSE, NHAVA- SHEVA,TAL-URAN, RAIGAD, MAHARASHTRA -400707 F.No. S/22-Gen- 20/2020-21/AM (I)/JNCH Date: 16.10.2020 PUBLIC NOTICE NO. - 135/2020 Sub: Faster assessment and clearance of goods under Faceless Assessment- reg. Attention of Importers, Exporters, Customs Brokers, Shipping Lines/ Agents, Logistics Service Providers, CFSs Custodians, Trade, Customs Staff and all other stakeholders is invited to CBIC s Circular No. 45/2020-Customs dated 12.10.2020 issued vide F. No.450/26/2019-Cus. IV(Pt) and ICES Advisory No.-38/2020 dated 14.10.2020 issued by DGoS, ICES. Reference is also invited to CBIC Circular No.40/2020-Customs, dated 04.09.2020 stipulating the rollout schedule for implementation of Faceless Assessment pan India by 31.10.2020. The CBIC Circular Nos. 28/2020-Customs, dated 05.06.2020, 34/2020-Customs, dated 30.07.2020 as well as JNCH s Public Notice Nos. 96/2020 dated 31.07.2020 and 117/2020 dated 12.09.2020 related to Faceless Assessment may also be kindly referred to. 2. As the prompt and timely assessment of Bills of Entry and clearance of imported consignments are key objectives of Turant Customs, these issues have been examined and remedial measures have been identified and prescribed for Faceless Assessment. 3. FAG officers in Mumbai Customs Zone-II, Nhava Sheva are working throughout the week for assessment and clearance of goods under Faceless Assessment to ensure that there is no delay on their part. Further, it has also been decided that all Saturdays (except second Saturday) will be working days for all the FAGs at JNCH and, that, on second Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays FAGs will work on rotation basis as devised by NACs(National Assessment Centres), to fulfil the overall objective of Faceless Assessment. However, it is felt that some extra diligence and proactive action by the Trade will further facilitate faster clearance of Bills of Entry in the current regime of faceless assessment. 3.1. In this regard, Trade is advised to adhere to the following tips for faster assessment and clearance of the goods in faceless assessment:- i. Upload all supporting documents under e-sanchit while filing the BE. ii. Study the compliance requirements for the goods imported and upload all the required documents under e-Sanchit in support of the claim of meeting those requirements. This will reduce queries by assessing officer. iii. Upload Product catalogues/Product Data Sheet/ User manual/ Technical write-up etc to ensure correct classification of goods. iv. Study the conditions listed against the notification for claim of notification benefit, and ensure that documents defending the claim are filed along with the B/E. v. Upload the additional documents on e-sanchit and tag IRN with BE. 3.2. Trade is further advised:- (i) to feed all the details/information etc. needed for assessment at the time of filing of BE and to indicate end use of consignments viz. time-sensitive/urgent consignments such as lifesaving drugs, security/defence related consignments etc. imported by Government and its agencies/PSUs etc in the B/E for easier identification of such consignments, so that PAG/FAG will clear above consignments on priority basis. (ii) to provide complete details/specifications/ description/brand/name/model/technical literature/mandatory documents essential for assessment. Further, it is advised to upload and link all the relevant and supporting documents at the first instance to avoid queries and delays. This may enable the assessing/appraising officers to view all the supporting documents so that un-necessary queries may be avoided. (iii) to opt for Continuity Bond option as mentioned in Para No. 9..1.2 of JNCH s Public Notice No.-117/2020 dated 12.09.2020, to avoid fresh registration of Bond every time during filing of bill of entry in cases where the importer has prior knowledge that there is a requirement of execution of Bond or Bank guarantee for the assessment of the said bill of entry, such as in the case of a warehouse bill of entry or where the importer has sought provisional assessment or where a claim to any concessional rate of duty or exemption under duty remission/exemption schemes is subject to filing of Bond/ Bank Guarantee. 3.3. It is brought to the notice of the Trade that as of now E-sanchit has more than 300 pre-defined codes for all necessary documents. Hence importer/custom Broker may proactively upload all the requisite documents as are required for supporting self assessment and which are already enabled in e-sanchit for uploading. 3.4. Instances have been reported where the assessment of the Bills of Entry involving export benefit license or where a bond is given mandates a requirement of 100% Bank Guarantee(BG) by default and the Bills of Entry are recalled by the appraising officers at the Port of Import for removing the BG requirement. This happens when the BG% percentage was given as 100 or left blank (null) at the time of registering the corresponding bond in System. Wherever the correct BG % has been entered during the bond registration, only that gets applied as default BG % for the corresponding Bill of Entry. To avoid repeated recall and reassessment, it is advised that the actual applicable percentage of BG associated with the bond may be entered in the Bond Management module in System. In case no BG is required, the BG% should be expressly given as zero (0) instead of leaving blank. This way, the System will appropriately mandate the actual BG % during the assessment. 3.5. Filing amendment for adding Supporting Docs to a Bill of Entry :- Instances have been noticed where an importer uploads additional documents in e-Sanchit for a Bill of Entry after its submission but does not file corresponding amendment for that Bill of Entry to tag the additional documents. In such a case, the additional documents do not become available to the assessing officers. So, Trade is advised to upload the additional documents on e-sanchit and tag IRN with BE. 4.1. It is informed to the Trade that vide JNCH s Public Notice No.-132/2020 dated 13.10.2020, it has been decided that the Turant Suvidha Kendra (TSK) at Nhava-Sheva will act as Facilitation Helpdesk for any grievance related to clearances of the B/E filed in the port. Accordingly, for redressal of any gievance related to clearance of the Bill of Entry pertaining to Mumbai Customs Zone-II, JNCH, Nhava-Sheva, the Importers/Exporters/Customs Brokers/Stake-holders may contact the Supdt./Appraising Officer, Turant Suvidha Kendra, JNCH, Nhava-Sheva. The Importers/Exporters/Customs Brokers/Stake-holders may also communicate their grievance relating to clearance of the Bill of Entry on E-Mail id at [email protected] or over telephone 022-27244766. 4.2. It is further informed that, Shri Dipin Singla (Email id: [email protected]), Joint/ Addl. Commissioner of Customs, TSK, NS-III, JNCH, Nhava-Sheva has been designated as nodal officer to serve as single point for the escalation of the grievance with regards to clearance of B/E requiring urgent attention filed at JNCH, Nhava-Sheva 5. Difficulty, if any, faced in implementation of the said Public Notice may be brought to the notice of the Addl. /Joint Commissioner (Appraising Main, Import) through email on [email protected] 6. This Public Notice should be considered as Standing Order for the purpose of officers and staff of department. Sd/- (Sunil Kumar Mall) Commissioner of Customs (NS-I)