Monitoring and administrative control - CBEC's Customs Manual 2023 - Customs

5. Monitoring and administrative control: 5.1 The EOUs basically function under the administrative control of the Development Commissioner of the Special Economic Zones, whose jurisdiction has been notified by the Ministry of Commerce. In all, there are seven Development Commissioners at Mumbai, Gandhidham, Chennai, Cochin, Visakhapatnam, Noida and Kolkata, who supervise the functioning of the EOUs. The Development Commissioners of the SEZs are the Licensing Authorities in respect of units under the EOU scheme, as per specified territorial jurisdiction as indicated in the FTP. 5.2 The provisions of the Customs and Central Excise law in respect of the EOUs are administered by the Commissioners of Customs and Central Excise, who work under the control of Central Board of Indirect Taxes Customs. The work relating to the EOUs located in port cities/towns or within the municipal limits of port cities/towns, which was earlier transferred to the jurisdictional Commissioner of Central Excise, will continue to be handled by jurisdictional Commissioner of Customs Central Excise. [Refer Circular Nos. 72/2000-Cus, dated 31-8-2000, No.87/2000Cus, dated 2-11-2000 ;No. 932/22/2010-CX, dated 4-8-2010 and D.O. F.No. 450/17/2017 Custom IV dated 07.11.2017] 5.3 On the policy front, all decisions relating to the EOUs are taken by the Board of Approvals (BOA), set up under the Department of Commerce. The BOA is chaired by the Secretary, Ministry of Commerce. In the case of units engaged in manufacture of electronic hardware and software, the policy decisions are taken by the Inter Ministerial Standing Committee (IMSC) set up under the Department of Information Technology and the same are implemented through its Designated Officers. CBIC representative is a member of both the BOA/IMSC. The availability of any benefit under Customs or Central Excise Acts or the notifications issued thereunder has, however, to be determined by the Commissioner of Customs and Central Excise having jurisdiction over the unit. Appropriate inter-ministerial liaison is maintained for ensuring uniformity as far as possible in the FTP provisions and the provisions built in the relevant Customs and Central Excise notifications.