Jacket with camera for use by the vessel Boarding Officer- pilot at Custom House Cochin-procedure-reg. - Customs - PUBLIC NOTICE NO. 13/2023-24

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF FINANCE DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE CENTRAL BOARD OF INDIRECT TAXES AND CUSTOMS OFFICE OF THE COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS CUSTOMS HOUSE , WILLINGDON ISLAND COCHIN - 682009 Website: www.cochincustoms.gov.in E-mail: cochincustoms@nicin Control Room: 0484-2666422 Fax 0484-2668468 F. No. S31/06/2023. Pr.Cus Date: 26.04.2023 PUBLIC NOTICE NO. 13/2023-24 Subject: Jacket with camera for use by the vessel Boarding Officer- pilot at Custom House Cochin-procedure-reg. Attention of all stake holders viz. Shipping lines, terminal operators, logistic partners, custom brokers, businessmen, Vessel owner/ Master etc. are invited towards the CBIC Circular no. 07/2022-Customs dated 07.03.2023, through which the Board has directed the use of boarding jackets fitted with Body Worn Camera (BWC) with video/ audio recording facility by Boarding Officers while carrying out duties on board vessels. In this regard, the following procedure shall be followed by the boarding officers- i. The boarding officer shall wear the jacket with their name and badges before boarding the vessel. The body worn camera shall be placed on the right side at a Space specifically designed to hold the body camera. The camera shall be placed upright to capture the image of interaction with vessel's crew and verification process clearly. ii. The recording camera would be positioned in such a manner so that those watching the footage see the situation from the officer's perspective. iii. The Boarding Officer shall activate their camera at the start of their boarding duty on approaching the gangway and make people aware that they are being recorded. The recording shall be continued uninterrupted until the officer de-boards the vessel, and reaches back at the end of the gangway. iv. To ease out any inconvenience to stakeholders, the Boarding Officer in advance shall inform the Shipping Agent/Line that the recording of boarding functions is mandatory. The Shipping Agent/Line, in turn, will inform the Master of Vessel for smooth completion of Boarding functions. v. The BWC used by Boarding Officer is a stand-alone device without Wi-Fi or SIM functionality. If the Safety Officer of the Vessel carrying hazardous cargo opines that the usage of the BWC is not safe in certain areas inside the Vessel or entire Vessel, then the endorsement to that effect shall be taken from Safety Officer, and the Boarding Officer will not use BWC while in identified areas, if required. The Boarding Officer shall inform the Assistant/Deputy Commissioner (Boarding) who in turn will bring this to the notice of Joint/ Additional Commissioner (Boarding) for independent cross - verification. Any difficulty faced in implementation of this Public Notice may be brought to the notice of the undersigned. P JAIDEEP COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS