Postal Export (Electronic Declaration and Processing) Regulations, 2022 and implementation of PBE Automated System. - Customs - 25/2022

Circular No. 25/2022-Customs, F.No. 476/3/2018-LC Government Of India Ministry Of Finance Department Of Revenue Central Board Of Indirect Taxes And Customs ************ Room No. 227A, North Block, New Delhi Dated the 9 th December 2022 To, Pr. Chief Commissioners/ Chief Commissioners (Customs or Central Tax Customs) Pr. Directors General/ Directors General, all under CBIC Pr. Commissioners/ Commissioners of Customs Pr. Additional Directors General/ Additional Directors General, all under CBIC Subject: Postal Export (Electronic Declaration and Processing) Regulations, 2022 and implementation of PBE Automated System- reg. In order to leverage the vast network of post offices across the country and enable MSME's (Micro. Small and Medium Enterprises) to export to global markets using e-commerce or other regular channels, the CBIC in collaboration with the Department of Posts (DoP) has developed a dedicated Postal Bill of [Exports (PBE) Automated System for postal exports. 2. Postal Exports (Electronic Declaration and Processing) Regulations. 2022 (herein after referred to as the Regulations) have accordingly been notified by the Board vide Notification No. 104 dated 9th December 2022 . These regulations are meant to facilitate the processing of commercial postal exports by automating the entire procedure and seamlessly connecting the postal network to the notified Foreign Post Offices or FPOs. 3. For exporting a parcel through the postal route, an exporter or his agent is presently required to come to any of the twenty-eight FPOs to file the export declaration and hand over his consignment for export. In the new system, the exporter will not be required to visit an FPO. rather he will be able to file PBE online from home/office and deposit the parcel in a nearby post office for export. The export parcel so deposited by the exporter will be moved by the DoP to an FPO for customs clearance. The system of export clearance will operate on a digital platform while harnessing the existing post office network spread across the country and will be amenable to being scaled up to cover small exporters/producers located in remote areas. 4. An overview of the functionalities offered by the PBE Automated System and the various steps prescribed under the Regulations for undertaking a postal export of commercial nature are elaborated below for ease of understanding - (i) Access: The Postal Bill of Exports (PBE) Automated System can be accessed by the trade using the link https://dnk.cept.gov.in/customers.web. This link will direct the user to the login page of 'Dak Ghar Niryat Kendra - Customer Portal'. Similarly, the Customs officers can access the export documentation uploaded by the exporter for according Customs clearance by going to the link. https://ips.cept.gov.in/customs.web/login.aspx. This link will direct the Customs officer to the login page of 'Dak Ghar Niryat Kendra - Customs Portal'. Step-by-step detailed guidance on the work flow, both for exporters and Customs officers, shall be provided by DoP on the aforesaid portals. (ii) Registration: Regulation 4 mandates registration of an exporter on the PBE Automated System. On initial logging into the portal, every exporter is required to register himself. The first step of the registration process is OTP based authentication (with the OTP being shared on registered mobile number) and thereafter involves capturing certain mandatory identifiers corresponding to the exporter's personal and business profile including Name. Address. IEC number and GSTIN etc. and uploading of KYC documents. A username and password are assigned to access the System. In its present form, the PBE Automated System also provides for registering details of the authorised agent where required. (iii) Booking of Postal Article for Export: To book an export article, the exporter is required to login using his username and password. The exporter can fill the required fields of PBE form (III or IV as prescribed under the Regulations) such as description of consignment, export destination, sender's and receiver's details etc. under the 'Article Booking' sub menu. If the exporter chooses to utilize services of an authorized agent, then the exporter shall also fill in the agent's name, address and customs broker licence number. On completion of the said process, an Article Booking ID reference and a PBE number will be auto generated. The exporter can then print the CN 23 form or the Harmonised label, as appropriate, corresponding to the export. The portal also facilitates upload of bulk information for multiple articles as also upload of supporting documentation such as licenses, certificates etc. essential for Customs purposes. (iv) Procedure at the Booking Post Office: Once the article(s) is booked on the portal, the exporter or his authorised agent has to physically deliver the export article(s) to the nearest or the most convenient booking post office (bpo). Postal authorities shall authorize certain post offices as the bpo's and corresponding FPOs as provided under sub-regulation (1) of regulation 6. On receipt of the export goods at the bpo counter, the declaration on the package with respect to inter alia weight of the article and the destination country name will be verified by the postal authorities, who shall also collect necessary payments. KYC documents will also be obtained from the customer bringing the article to bpo. Postal authorities shall be responsible for onward secure transfer of the export package to the corresponding FPO for further processing and export. (v) Customs Procedures at the FPO: The postal authorities shall present the export goods to the proper officer at the FPO for Customs clearance. The proper officer is the officer so assigned to perform the specified functions in terms of the notification issued under Section 5 of the Customs Act. 1962 . The proper officer will access the Customs portal as per the role allocation i.e. Assessment, Inspection. Examination or Escalation as assigned by the System Administrator appointed for the said purpose by the jurisdictional Principal Commissioner or Commissioner. The details of the PBE can be fetched by the proper officer on Customs portal for assessment and final clearance. The exporter or his authorised agent, where required, shall discharge the export duty on an item. When in doubt, the proper officer may call for further clarification or document(s) by raising a query on the portal that will be notified to the exporter electronically and will reflect under the bell icon of exporters web page. Once a query is raised, the exporter will be enabled to provide necessary information and upload requisite documents on the portal. The reply to the query, provided by the exporter, can be viewed by Customs under the 'Customer Referral' sub menu. Once the proper officer is satisfied with the declaration, and the duty, if any, assessed thereon and any charges payable under the Act in respect of the same having been paid, he may clear the package for export. The proper officer may also detain an export package for further investigation, if required. The proper officer may also exercise the option of cancellation of export if the export item is prohibited. The export may also be cancelled, before communication of Customs decision, on receipt of a request placed by the exporter on the portal for back to town (or return of the export item) on account of several factors including order cancellation etc. The postal authorities will be responsible for the secure movement of such goods from the FPO to the concerned bpo. (vi) Export Incentive Claim: Once the postal consignment has been cleared by Customs for export, the exporter will be able to print the finalised PBE form by downloading it from the 'Forms Download' sub menu on his portal for the purposes of claiming export incentive, where eligible. Further, sub-regulation (6) of regulation 7 casts the responsibility on the postal authorities to furnish the proof of export and corresponding electronic data to Customs. However, till such time as the data exchange between Customs server and Postal server is enabled, the procedure for IGST refund from Customs as prescribed in Circular 14/2018-Customs dated 04.06.2018 shall continue. Additionally, the PBE forms (III and IV) also have a field to indicate if Drawback is claimed on the postal export. For claiming Drawback, the exporter is required to follow the procedure outlined under rule 12 of the Customs and Central Excise Duties Drawback Rules. 2017 . 5. The Regulations also prescribe a period of five years for retention of records pertaining to postal exports by the exporter or his authorised agent and their production before Customs when required. The role and responsibilities of the authorised agent are also covered under regulation 9 that mandate observance of all conditions stipulated under the Customs Broker Licensing Regulations. 2018. 6. To facilitate transition and stabilization of the prescribed modality of postal exports automation, the manual procedure provided under the earlier notified Exports by Posts Regulations, 2018 [Notification No. 48/2018-Customs (N.T.)] read with Circular 14/2018-Customs dated 04.06.2018 , will continue to be in operation till such time as specifically-suspended by the Board. 7. Difficulties in implementation of this Circular, if any. may be brought to the notice of the Board. Yours faithfully, (Neetisha Verma) STO (ICD)