Procedure in case of postal imports - CBEC's Customs Manual 2023 - Customs

8. Procedure in case of postal imports: 8.1 Rules Regarding Postal Parcels and Letter Packets from Foreign Ports in/out of India prescribe procedure for landing and clearing at notified ports/airports/ LCSs of parcels and packets forwarded by foreign mails or passenger vessels or airliners. The procedure broadly is as under: (a) The boxes or bags containing the parcels shall be labelled as Postal Parcel , Parcel Post , Parcel Mail , Letter Mail and will be allowed to pass at specified the Foreign Parcel Department of the Foreign Post Offices and Sub Foreign Post Offices. (b) On receipt of the parcel mail, the Postmaster hands over to the Customs the following documents: (i) A memo showing the total number of parcels received from each country of origin; (ii) Eliminate the parcels which are letters, documents in consultation with the Customs Department. (iii) File the Bills of entry in the prescribed forms along with the senders' declarations and any other relevant documents that may be required for the examination, assessment etc. by the Customs Department; (iv) The relative Customs Declarations and dispatch notes (if any); and (c) On receipt of the documents, the Customs Appraiser shall scrutinize the particulars given in the memo and identify the parcels to be detained for examination either for want of necessary particulars or defective description or suspected misdeclaration or under-valuation of contents. The remaining parcels are to be assessed for duty by scrutinising the Bill of entry, as the case may be. For this purpose, the Appraisers are generally guided by the particulars given in the Bill of entry or Customs declarations and dispatch notes (if any). When any invoice, document or information is required to ascertain the real value, quantity or description of the contents of a parcel, the addressee may be called upon by way of a notice to produce or furnish such invoice, document and information. (d) Whenever necessary, the values from the declarations are considered as per the Bill of entry and after conversion into Indian Currency at the ruling rates of exchange, the amount of duty is calculated and entered. (e) Duty is calculated at the rate and valuation in force on the date that the postal authorities present a list of such goods or date of filing the Bill of entry with the Customs. In case the parcels are brought through a vessel and postal authorities present list of goods before arrival of the vessel, the rate of duty and tariff value shall be the date on which Inward Entry is granted to the vessel. (f) All parcels marked for detention are to be detained by the Postmaster and the rest of the parcels which have been eliminated by the Customs will go forward for delivery to the addressee on payment of the duty marked on each parcel. (g) The detained parcels are submitted together with the Bill of entry to the Customs and after examining the details of contents of value in the Bills of entry Customs Appraiser clears the bill. (h) In the case of receipt of letter mail bags, the Postmaster gets the bags opened which is scrutinized under the supervision of the Customs with a view to identify packets containing dutiable articles. Those parcels containing non dutiable goods are eliminated and the dutiable packets are to be detained and presented in due course to the Customs Appraiser with a bill of entry for the purpose of assessment. The Customs Appraiser will assess the amount of duty against each item. (i) All parcels or packets required to be opened for Customs examination are opened, and after examination, closed by the Post Office officials and are then sealed with a distinctive seal. The parcels or packets shall remain throughout in the custody of the Post Office officials. (The Rules and regulations prescribed under Not No. 26/2009- Cus (N.T.) for the handling of goods in customs areas will be applicable to the postal department. (j) If on examination the contents of any parcel or packet are found mis declared or the value understated or consisting of prohibited goods, such parcels or packets must be detained. The Postmaster shall follow the instructions stipulated in Notification No. 26/2009-Customs (N.T.) dated 17.03.2009 and shall not allow such parcels or packets to go forward without the Customs' orders. Adjudication proceedings shall be initiated in such cases by the competent officer and the parcels released only after payment of fine and penalty, if any, levied by the adjudicator. (k) The duties as assessed by the Customs Appraiser in the Bill of entry shall be recovered by the Post Office from the addressees at the time of delivery of the goods to the importers. The credit for the total amount of duty certified by the Customs Appraiser at the end of each bill is given by the Post Office to the Customs Department in accordance with the procedure settled between the two Departments. (l) The Bill of entries or the letter mail bills on which assessment is made remain in the custody of the Post Office, but the duplicates copies are kept in the Customs Department for dealing with claims for refunds, etc.