Movement of imported goods from a port direct to CFS of another Customs station - CBEC's Customs Manual 2025 - Customs

16. Movement of imported goods from a port direct to CFS of another Customs station: 16.1 In the interest of reducing transaction cost and dwell time Board has decided that suitable changes in ICES may be carried out to allow direct movement of imported goods from a gateway port to a CFS of another Customs station directly. This was necessitated since the ICES module at present does not allow generation of Sub Manifest Transshipment Permit (SMTP) to allow such movement of imported goods. Till such time the electronic system is made operational the following procedure has been prescribed for direct movement of imported goods from gateway port to a CFS: (i) At the Gateway Port, Customs shall prepare a consolidated list of all SMTP generated CFS- wise for consignments bound for another Customs station/ ICD. This list should be transmitted electronically by the gateway port to the receiving Customs station /ICD. (ii) The goods will move from the gateway port direct to the CFS under cover of a bond accepted by the Customs at the gateway port. The carrier will also carry the relevant SMTP in duplicate and hand over the same to the custodian at the CFS. (iii) On arrival of the goods at the CFS attached to ICD, the custodian of the CFS shall prepare: I. A list of goods/container arrival, on daily basis. This list shall inter alia cover the detail of SMTP generated at the gateway port, a hard copy whereof is received along with the goods/containers. This list shall be signed by the custodians and shall be endorsed by Customs Officer in the CFS. The custodian of the CFS shall forward the list of goods/container arrival, to ICD on daily basis. II. A Landing Certificate on the lines of a Container Arrival list shall be signed by custodian. (iv) The Custodian of CFS shall forward a copy of Landing Certificate duly endorsed by Customs at receiving end to the Customs at the gateway port for recrediting the bond executed with Customs. (v) On arrival of the goods/container inside the CFS, the custodian along with the surveyor, if any, in presence of the Customs Officer shall verify the correctness of details of consignments and will make an endorsement in the SMTP. The endorsed SMTP shall be forwarded to concerned ICD. With receipt of endorsed SMTP and approval of Customs officer at the ICD, local IGM shall be permitted to be filed at Service Center in case of LCL cargo (vi) The Bill of Entry will be filed at the ICD as usual and the goods will be examined and cleared at the CFS. 16.2 This facility shall be extended to CFSs that are at a considerable distance from the ICD, or en- route to an ICD (from the gateway port). Movement of consignments from the gateway ports to CFS adjacent to ICD shall continue to be permitted, as earlier. The furnishing of suitable bond by the custodian of the ICD/CFS with the Customs at the gateway port shall also continue as at present. [Refer Circulars No.47/96-Cus, dated 16.09.1996, No.57/98-Cus, dated 04.08.1998, No. 31/99-Cus, dated 27.05.1999, No.69/99-Cus, dated 06.10.1999,No.34/2000-Cus, dated 03.05.2000, No.56/2000-Cus, dated 05.07.2000,No.61/2000-Cus, dated 13.07.2000, No.75/2001-Cus, dated 05. 12.2001, No.78/2001-Cus, dated 07.12.2001, No.15/2002-Cus, dated 25.02.2002, No.18/2002-Cus, dated 13.03.2002, No.46/2002-Cus, dated 29.07.2002, No.90/2002-Cus, dated 09.12.2002, No. 61/2003-Cus, dated 18.07.2003, No.87/2003-Cus, dated 06.10.2003,No.52/2004-Cus, dated 07.10.2004, No.45/2005-Cus, dated 24.11.2005, No.46/2005-Cus,dated 04.11.2005,No.47/2005-Cus, dated 24.11.2005, No.24/2006-Cus, dated 25.08.2006, No.6/2007-Cus, dated 22.01.2007, No.14/2007-Cus, dated 16.03.2007, No.31/2005-Cus, dated 25.07.2005, No.18/2009-Cus., dated 08.06.2009, No.4/2010-Cus, dated 15.02.2010 and No.22/2013-Cus., dated 24.05.2013] 16.3 Sea Cargo Manifest and Transshipment Regulations, (SCMTR) 2018: I. Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Custom (CBIC) vide notification No. 38/2018-Cus (NT) dated 11.05.2018 read with notification No. 65/2018Cus (NT) dated 30.07.2018 and 88/2018-Cus (NT) dated 30.10.2018 have notified Sea Cargo Manifest and Transshipment Regulations 2018. II. The Sea Cargo Manifest and Transshipment Regulations (SCMTR), 2018, seek to bring about transparency, predictability of movement, advance collection of information for expeditious clearance. It brings various improvements in the current Customs procedures with the objective of reducing errors and facilitating the importers and stakeholders by reducing the processing time and cost. The benefits of the SCMTR, 2018 include inter-alia: I. Doing away with application for rotation number by Shipping Lines. II. Availability of complete error-free import manifest for pre-arrival processing. III. Electronic submission of supporting documents during Entry-Inward. IV. Single registration and a National Bond for transshipment of containers with facility of automated re-crediting (of bonds). V. Electronic submission of same bottom cargo information (paper-based submission is dispensed with). VI. Electronic one-step processing of transshipment of LCL cargo and sea-sea transshipment. VII. Catering to multi-leg transshipments without any additional steps. VIII. Electronic tracking of change in containers in place of paperbased verification/tracking. IX. Eliminating the requirement of repeat submission of details at subsequent ports in case of transshipments. X. Streamlining filing of stuffing reports thereby reducing time and errors involved. XI. Clear demarcation of logistics and document-based workflow, thereby enabling deployment of IoT in the future such as Smart Gates, Track and Trace, e-seal etc. XII. Alignment of the Customs procedures in line with the logistics movement. III. Registration: Under the SCMTR regulations, the Person acting as Authorised Carriers (Authorized Sea Carrier, Authorised Transhipper), Authorised Sea Agent, Custodian, Terminal Operator shall have to be approved afresh by the proper officer. The Approval is completely online and faceless. In order to ease of doing business and reduce compliances for EXIM Community, the Board has decided to abolish renewals of Registration in Sea Cargo Manifest and Transshipment Regulations incorporating the following changes: I. To provide lifetime validity of the licenses/registrations; II. To enable provision for making the licenses/registrations invalid in case the licensee/registration holder is inactive for the period exceeding 1 year at a time; III. To empower Principal Commissioner or Commissioner of Customs to renew a license/registration which has been invalidated due to inactivity; and IV. To provide for voluntary surrender of license/registration. [Refer Circular No.17/2021-Customs dated 23.07.2021] IV. Transition provision: The Declarations under SCMTR are to be provided in the new message format. The DG Systems has developed the new formats for submission by different stakeholders. Since there is a change in the manner of reporting, the regulation has provided the transitional provisions for submission under old and new formats simultaneously, so as to cause less disruption to the trade and provide time for adoption of new processes. Currently the transitional provisions have been extended till 31.03.2025 [Refer Notification No. 56/2022-Customs (N.T.) dated 30.06.2022] V. To Reduce the compliance burden for citizens and business activities, The Board has decided to abolish renewals of Licence/Registration in Sea Cargo Manifest and Transshipment Regulations, 2018 [Refer Circular No. 17/2021 dated 23.07.2021] VI. The SCMTR, 2018 stipulate the obligations, roles and responsibilities, for the various stakeholders involved in the import export of goods. It also specifies changes in the formats and timelines for filing the manifest declarations. The Circular No. 43/2020-Customs dated 30.09.2020 has elaborated more on the above aspects. To provide time for readiness of the Systems and stakeholders, a transitional arrangement was introduced through Regulation 15 to file in the old format in addition to the new format during this transitional arrangement. This arrangement got postponed since 2018 due to various reasons. Since, the authorities required one month time to complete the development of module and another one month for testing and stabilizing the same. The SCMTR was introduced in a phased manner [Refer Notification No. 57/2024-Customs dated 31.08.2024 and Notification No. 74/2024-Customs dated 30.10.2015] 16.4 Customs procedure for export of cargo in closed containers from ICDs to Bangladesh using inland waterways: With a view to facilitate the trade and leveraging the potential of Inland waterways for enhancing trade and transit, transshipment of containerized export goods of Bangladesh through India using inland waterways routes has been allowed. The goods cleared at the ICDs shall be first brought by road or rail to the gateway ports of Kolkata or Haldia, from where the containers shall be loaded on a barge/vessel for further journey by riverine route to Bangladesh through Land Customs Station of Hemnagar. [Refer Circular No. 17/2022-Customs dated 09.09.2022] 16.5 Enabling exports of Bangladesh goods to India by rail in closed container: The empty containers returning from Bangladesh to India on a train would be utilized to carry export goods of Bangladesh to India. This shall apply to closed containers moved by Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) carried on trains operated by Indian Railways. While the train will enter into India through the Land Customs Station of Petrapole or Gede, the train will be allowed to transit to any ICD of India for customs clearance of goods [Refer Circular No. 08/2022-Customs dated 17.05.2022] 16.6 Transshipment through India of containerized export cargo of Bangladesh destined for third countries using Riverine and Land routes: For facilitating the trade and leveraging the potential of inland waterways for enhancing trade and transit, the transshipment of containerized export goods of Bangladesh through India using riverine and rail routes has been allowed. It entails entry of containerized cargo into India through Land Customs Station, Hemnagar, from where the goods shall be transported to the sea port of Kolkata or Haldia on a barge/vessel using the riverine route agreed under the Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade between India and Bangladesh (IBP route); and unloading of containers from the barge/vessel and further loading on a railway train at the sea port of Kolkata or Haldia, from where the goods will travel by rail to the sea port of Nhava Sheva or Mundra for export to third countries. [Refer Circular No. 19/2022-Customs dated 14.09.2022] 16.7 Transshipment of Export Cargo from Bangladesh to third countries through Land Customs Station (LCSs) to Port/Airport, in container of closed bodies trucks: With a view to facilitate exports, movement of Bangladesh export cargo destined to third countries, transiting through the Indian territory has been allowed. Bangladesh export cargo can enter the Indian territory from Land Customs Station of Petrapole or Gede/Ranaghat and further move to Port of Nhava Sheva via rail and from Land Customs Station of Petrapole to Kolkata Port or air cargo complexes at Delhi, Kolkata or Bangalore or Port of Nhava Sheva via road for eventual export to third countries. [Refer Circulars No. 42/2018-Customs dated 02.11.2018, No. 29/2020-Customs dated 22.06.2020, No. 03/2023-Customs dated 07.02.2023, No. 09/2024-Customs dated 09.07.2024]