Prior Entry for Bill of Entry - CBEC's Customs Manual 2023 - Customs

9. Prior Entry for Bill of Entry: 9.1 For faster clearance of the goods, Section 46 of the Customs Act, 1962 allows filing of Bill of Entry prior to arrival of goods. This Bill of Entry is valid if vessel/aircraft carrying the goods arrives within 30 days from the date of presentation of Bill of Entry. 9.2 Often, goods coming by container ships are transferred at intermediate ports (like Colombo) from mother vessel to smaller vessels called feeder vessels. At the time of filing of advance Bill of Entry, the importer does not know which vessel will finally bring the goods to Indian port. In such cases, the name of mother vessel may be filled in on the basis of the Bill of Lading. On arrival of the feeder vessel, the Bill of Entry may be amended to mention names of both mother vessel and feeder vessel. 9.3 The Bill of Entry is required to be filed before the end of next day following the day (excluding holidays) on which the aircraft or vessel or vehicle carrying the goods arrives at a customs station at which such goods are to be cleared for home consumption or warehousing. 9.4 Wherein the Bill of Entry is not filed within the time specified in Para 8.3 above and the proper officer of customs is satisfied that there is no sufficient cause for such delay, the importer shall be liable to pay charges for the late presentation of Bill of Entry at the rate of rupees five thousand per day for initial three days of the default and at the rate of rupees ten thousand per day for each day of default thereafter. [Refer Notification 26/2017-Cutoms (N.T.) dated 31.03.2017 ] 9.5 Section 46 of the Customs Act, 1962 has been amended vide the Finance Act, 2021 . These changes facilitate pre-arrival processing and assessment of Bills of Entry (BE) by mandating their advance filing thus leading to significant decrease in the Customs clearance time. The amended Section 46 requires an importer to file a BE before the end of the day (including holidays) preceding the day of arrival of the vessel/aircraft/vehicle carrying the imported goods at a Customs port/station at which such goods are to be cleared for home consumption or warehousing. Board has amended the Bill of Entry (Electronic Integrated Declaration) Regulations, 2018 by issue of Notification No.34/2021-Customs(N.T.), dated 29.03.2021 thereby prescribing different time-limits for filing BE in respect of goods imported by various modes of transport. It may be noted that, the existing provision that a BE may be presented upto 30 days prior to the expected arrival of the aircraft or vessel or vehicle carrying the imported goods continues. Thus, with certain exceptions, as notified, the BE can now be filed anytime from 30 days prior to the expected arrival of the aircraft or vessel or vehicle upto the end of day preceding the day of such arrival. [Refer Circular No. 08/2021-Cutoms dated 29.03.2021 ]