Faceless Assessment - Measures for timely assessment of Bills of Entry and clarification on defacement of physical documents - Customs - PUBLIC NOTICE NO. : 70/2020

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA OFFICE OF THE PRINCIPAL COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS (AIRPORT AIR CARGO COMPLEX) NSCBI AIRPORT, KOLKATA: 700 052 F. No. 560(Misc)-431/18CCI Dated: 22.10.2020 PUBLIC NOTICE NO. : 70/2020 Subject: Faceless Assessment - Measures for timely assessment of Bills of Entry and clarification on defacement of physical documents. Attention of the importers, exporters. Customs Brokers and all other stakeholders is invited to the Board's Circular No. 45/2020-Customs dated 12.10.2020 issued on the subject matter of Faceless Assessment - Measures for timely assessment of Bills of Entry and clarification on defacement of physical documents . Also reference is invited to CBIC Circular No.40/ 2020- Cus dated 04.09.2020, 28/2020-Cus dated 05.06.2020, 34/2020-Cus dated 30.07.2020 as well as Instruction No. 09/2020-Cus dated 05.06.2020 related to Faceless Assessment. 2. Board has reviewed the implementation of Faceless Assessment. While the implementation has been largely smooth, Board's attention has been drawn to some issues impacting the pace of assessment and clearances of consignments. 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. Accordingly, Board prescribes the following measures for Faceless Assessment: 2.1. Continuous Assessment: i. There may be possible delays in assessment when Bills of Entry (B/E) are assigned to FAGs in locations that are on an official holiday or when assessment is to be done on a closed holiday (say, Sunday). Further, time sensitive goods such as life-saving drugs or imports by security/ defence and other Government agencies would require prompt Customs clearance at all times including outside the normal office hours. Hence, it is decided to make all Saturdays (except second Saturday) as working day for all the faceless assessment groups across the country. The intention is not that all FAGs would work on all holidays, but that adequate number of FAG officers should be available, by rotation, so that assessment is not delayed. ii. The Import Shed should monitor clearance of time-sensitive/ urgent consignments such as lifesaving drugs, security/defence related consignments etc. imported by Government and its agencies/PSUs etc. so that these are not delayed. When required, the Import Shed should coordinate their early assessment with NAC concerned and then grant quick clearance. The trade is also advised to indicate end use of such consignments in the B/E for easier identification of such consignments. DG Systems will facilitate this by enabling a dashboard alerting the officers if such consignments are pending beyond 4 hours. This dashboard would be accessible to both PAG and RAG. iii. DG Systems has enabled dashboards for monitoring of pending FAG B/E, their disposal, and other relevant reports. These dashboards are required to be proactively utilised by the PAG and Principal Commissioner of Customs in charge. The Principal Commissioner in charge shall monitor the disposal of the B/E pending with the PAG and at the stage of examination for their timely disposal and when required, he/she shall co-ordinate with the NAC Commissioners for prompt disposal of pending B/Ds pertaining to the commissionerate. 2.2. Raising of Queries by FAG Officers: i. There is a need to ensure that queries are minimized to the extent absolutely necessary for carrying out the assessment. Queries should not be raised in piecemeal manner and to the extent possible multiple and repeat queries are to be avoided. The Principal Commissioner shall regularly monitor and review the queries to ensure this. In this regard reference may also be made to Circular No. 22/2015-Customs, dated 03.09.2015 directing that genuine clarifications sought by officers from importers/ exporters are to be raised at one go and not in a piecemeal manner. ii. Trade is being informed of the advantages of providing at the first instance only, the complete details and description of the commodity, brand name, model and any other specifications essential for the assessment. Further, they are also advised to upload at the first instance only, supporting documents like product/ technical literature and mandatory documents, certificates, which would help avoid queries and delays. It is also noticed that at times, the documents are uploaded on e-Sanchit but are not linked to B/E, leading to a situation where Appraising/ Assessing officer is unable to view the document and is thus compelled to raise a query. The trade, therefore, advised to avoid such situation by linking every uploaded document to the relevant B/E. The step by step guide in this regard is available at https: / / www.icegatc.gov.in/Download/ICES_Advisory_35_2020_on_a mendment_and_query_reply_with_supp_docs_v2.pdf iii. Some instances have been noticed, where confirmation of compliance to prohibitions and restrictions are being sought during assessment including submission of certain certificates, details etc. leading to delay in the assessment. It is clarified that the verification of statutory compliances is to be checked only during Customs Compliance Verification (CCV) stage at the Port of Import. While Appraising/ Assessment officer can make a suitable remark in the system for such verification by the Port of Import, the B/E shall not be kept pending for assessment. The Working Group on Prohibitions/ Restrictions is advised to identify the item wise CCV requirements for uniformity in the FAG and also communicate the same to RMCC for their central enforcement. Once this is done, the Appraising/ Assessment officer would no longer need to insert a remark to this effect in the system. 2.3. Resorting to First Checks: i. Upon review of the practice of the FAG officers resorting to First Check, it is clear that this practice needs to be streamlined both for purposes of uniformity across the country and different FAGs and also to address associated delays in assessment. Board has thus identified the following imports/ situations where First Check shall ordinarily be resorted to by the FAG officers for carrying out assessment of: Old and used machinery/ capital goods provided the Inspection/ Appraisement report from the country of export is not available in the format prescribed or is not produced at all or is insufficient as per Circular No.07/2020-Customs, dated 05.02.202(). Old and used goods where the examination is essential to determine valuation, classification, and other parameters. This does not include the cases covered under 2nd proviso to Section 46(1) of the Customs Act, 1962. Articles of jewellery, precious metals, imitation jewellery where valuation must be ascertained by a jewellery expert. Cases of re-import of goods under various exemption notifications, which requires establishment of identity to the satisfaction of Deputy Commissioner/ Assistant Commissioner of Customs. ii. Further, examination orders/ instructions in cases pertaining to para 2.3 will be reviewed and streamlined to avoid divergent practices. Such streamlined orders/ Instructions will be incorporated as a part of RMS Instructions by RMCC. Thereafter, those cases which are determined for verification under First Check are routed directly to the shed with RMS generated examination orders thus obviating the requirement of a FAG officer at this initial juncture. in the. flow Based on the examination report, the B/E would be assigned to FAG for completion of the assessment. iii. All other instances, including the FOC (Free of Charge) and temporary import consignments, must ordinarily be resorted to only Second Check. However, in the exceptional instance when the FAG has genuine reasons to believe that a First Check examination report is required for completion of assessment i.e., determination of valuation, classification, rate of duty, and other parameters relevant for determination of Customs duty, the same may be ordered only with the approval of Joint Commissioner/ Additional Commissioner in the Customs Automated System. It is clarified that this would include the cases where importer himself requests for First Check. iv. Where an importer requests First Check on a regular basis, the FAG officers must take due care that this request is genuine and is not being routinely used to avoid self-assessment. 2.3. Re-assessment of B/ E: i. Several representations have been received regarding dealing with amendments under section 149 of Customs Act, 1962 and consequent reassessment of B/E, based on the request of the importers to change the elements of assessment. This is typically the case when the importer claims that he has forgotten to claim an exemption or is in possession of some document that requires an element such as freight etc. to be changed. The various scenarios and the prescribed routes for carrying out reassessment are as follows: Scenario 1: Where the amendment is requested before OOC and would impact the assessment. Re-assessment in this scenario would be resorted to only if the B/E has not been given OOC. The request by the importers for those amendments impacting assessment would be sent to FAG for approval and consequent re- assessment. Accordingly, Notification No. 96/2020- Customs dated 12.10.2020 has been issued to enable FAG officers as proper officers under section 149 of Customs Act, 1962. Scenario 1 would apply in following instances: The self-assessed B/E is verified and found in order and the importer seeks an amendment that may impact the assessment. Once recalled for re-assessment, the B/E would be sent for consideration of the same FAG which had re-assessed the subject B/E previously. The self-assessed B/E is facilitated post which the importer seeks an amendment that may impact the assessment. In such case, the B/E would be sent to the any of the FAG for assessment by the Customs Automated System. The self-assessment made by the importer is questioned by the FAG and after due process, the assessment is changed. In this case the importer may either accept the new assessment or seek an assessment order. In both situations, if the importer subsequently seeks an amendment impacting the assessment, the B/E would be sent for consideration of the same FAG which had re-assessed the subject B/E previously. Scenario 2: Where the re-assessment is requested before OOC but would not impact the assessment. This scenario covers situations like requests for amendments like change in details of invoice based on the documentary evidence, short shipments, change in BL/AWB or fulfilment of conditionalities decided by assessment such as Bond conditions etc. These amendments may continue to be approved by PAG. Scenario 3: Where the re-assessment is requested after OOC has been given under Section 47 of the Customs Act, 1962. This scenario covers situations where re-assessment with or without amendment is to be carried out for any reason after OOC has been given. The same shall continue to be done by PAG. ii. The reassessment being done by Customs officer arising out of various reasons is presently done by the PAG. This practice may continue. 2.4. Certificate of Origin: i. Board has received feedback that there is need for clarity with respect to requirement of submission of original hard copy of a Certificate of Origin (COO) issued under various Free Trade Agreements. As seen, para 4 of Circular No.42/2019-Customs, dated 29.11.2019 states the field offices must ensure that no physical copy of any supporting document is submitted and every relevant document is submitted only electronically via e-sanchit either by the beneficiary or by the Participating Government AgencyP'. Likewise, para 3.1 of Circular No.32/2020-Customs, dated 06.07.2020 states: (i) The document verification by Customs officers at Assessment and Customs Compliance Verification (CCV) stages would normally be based on the documents uploaded in the e-Sanchit, not requiring physical submission of documents. However, if in any exceptional situation the physical submission of documents is required by Customs, for defacement or validation, such submission would be made only at the TSKs. ii. Documents requiring verification during examination for validation with goods would continue to be done during examination, as at present. iii. Suitable procedures are to be devised by concerned officers for handling safe keeping of the documents produced at TSKs. Ideally these documents should also be kept in electronic form. For uniformity, it is instructed to follow directions in Circular No.32/2020-Customs, dated 06.07.2020, which requires submission of original hard copy of a COO. This approach is in line with the Operational Certification Procedures for the various Trade Agreements notified in terms of section 5 of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975. 2.4. Grievance Redressal: i. In addition to other functions, Turant Suvidha Kendra (TSK) at the Port of Import would act as Facilitation Helpdesk for any grievance related to clearances of the B/E filed in the port. The list of the TSKs and their email and telephone/ contact details are available at https://ftvww.cbic.gov.in/htdocs-cbec/enquiry-points and may be kindly referred to. Officers posted at TSKs may also set up suitable online communication channels for quick redressal of grievances. ii. Shri Sydney D'SiIva, Additional Commissioner, ACC is designated as Nodal officer to serve as a single point interface for the escalation of the grievances and any issues including the B/ Es in the FA of Air Cargo Complex, Kolkata, requiring urgent attention. His e-mail address is [email protected] and Mobile No. is 9820239060. He may further make other necessary internal arrangements for co- ordination at the appropriate levels for early resolution. 3. It is expected that the aforementioned measures relating to streamlining the attendance of B/E during holidays, raising of queries, ordering First Check, re-assessment and submission of COO would certainly contribute to a reduction in the time taken for assessment and clearance of goods and the same would be strictly applied by all FAGs. 4. Action to be taken in terms of decision taken in this public notice should be considered as Standing Order for the purpose of officers and staff. 5. In case of any difficulty, the specific issue may be brought to the notice of the undersigned. (Deep Shekhar) Principal Commissioner of Customs Airport Air Cargo Complex