Appointment of Custodian at CFS Bangalore - 01/2012 - Customs - Non Tariff

Commissioner of Customs, Bangalore Notification No. 1/2012 (N.T.) Dated 9-4-2012 In exercise of the powers vested under Section 45(1) of the Customs Act, 1962, (52 of 1962) , I, B. Bhattacharya, Commissioner of Customs, Customs Commissionerate, Bangalore, hereby appoint M/s. Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC), EPIP, Whitefield, Bangalore, Karnataka State, to be the custodians of imported goods landed at Container Freight Station at M/s. Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC), EPIP, Whitefield, Bangalore, Karnataka State until they are cleared for home consumption or warehoused or transshipped in accordance with the provisions of Chapter VIII of the Act ibid and also for the goods intended for export till they are exported subject to the following conditions : 1. Central Warehousing Corporation, Whitefield, Bangalore, as the custodian of the imported goods, and goods meant for Export, they are required to comply with the provisions of Section 45(3) of the Customs Act, 1962 and Handling of Cargo in Customs areas Regulations, 2009 as well as, any other rules and regulations and instructions issued thereon from time to time, in this regard. 2. If any imported goods or goods meant for export are pilfered or lost after unloading in the Customs Area while in the custody of the Custodian, then, in terms of the provisions of Section 45(3) of the Customs Act, 1962, they shall be liable to pay duty on such goods as applicable. 3. The Custodian shall pay the Cost Recovery charges of the Customs Officer posted at Central Warehousing Corporation in advance on half yearly basis as per rates prescribed from time to time, unless specifically exempted by the Government of India. 4. They shall execute a Bond for Rs. Five Crore only with surety for the safety/storage and transhipment of goods before commencing any Import/Export. 5. Insurance of all goods held in Customs area shall be made by the Custodian. The Custodian is responsible for any loss arising on account of fire, theft, pilferage etc and make good the loss to the importer and this liability is unambiguously of the custodian in any legal proceedings that may follow on account of fire, theft, pilferage etc. 6. The custodian shall give separate bond with bank guarantee as prescribed by the Board from time to time towards the duty incentive in the export goods transported from the customs area to the gateway port/any other customs area for export/transhipment. The custodian would also be held responsible for the duty and for other penalties leviable for the goods lost during the transhipment from the said customs area to the gateway port/other customs area. Any claim arising on loss of goods during transhipment theft, remains the undivided responsibility of the Custodian. 7. The Custodian shall make adequate arrangements for sanitary facilities, water supply and other allied facilities, including canteen facility, for the officers working in the area. 8. The Custodian shall provide free furnished office space for the Customs Department at place of clearance. 9. Residential accommodation for the Customs staff posted in the area shall also be provided for by the Custodian, wherever requisitioned by the Commissioner of Customs. 10. The warfage charges shall be approved by the Customs, and no warfage charges shall be charged or collected by the Custodian without the approval of the Commissioner. 11. The Custodian shall also ensure safe transport of export goods to the port of shipment and shall be responsible for any pilferage, loss, damage in transit. The Custodian shall also remain solely responsible for any legal suits arising out of loss, damage, theft etc,. 12. The Custodian shall provide free suitable transport for the Customs staff from the nearest railway-head or suitable point. 13. The goods which are not cleared for home consumption or warehoused or transshipped within 30 days of unloading thereof, at Customs Stations or within such further time as the proper officer may allow or if the title to any imported or export goods is relinquished, shall not be sold under Section 48 of the Customs Act, 1962, by the Custodian unless the permission is sought from the proper officer of the Customs. 14. The Custodian shall also ensure that the time taken for-to, for movements of goods between CWC, Bangalore, and gateway ports should not exceed more than 5 days, and shall ensure safe transit of the Cargo. The Custodian shall take all effective steps including verifying antecedents of transporters and their staff to maintain integrity of the transhipment cargo. 15. The custodian shall provide the following as required under Regulation 5 of Handling of Cargo in Customs Areas Regulations, 2009 . (i) Infrastructure, equipment and adequate manpower for loading, unloading, stacking, handling, stuffing and de-stuffing of containers, storage, dispatch and delivery of containers and cargo etc., including : (a) standard pavement for heavy duty equipment for use in the operational and stacking area; (b) building for Customs office. Customs Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) Service Centre and user agencies with basic amenities and facilities; (c) storage facility, separately for imported, export and transshipment goods; (d) gate complex with separate entry and exit; (e) adequate parking space for vehicles; (f) boundary wall; (g) internal service roads; (h) electronic weigh-bridge and other weighing and measuring devices; (i) computerized system for location and accountal of goods, and processing of documents; (i) adequate air-conditioned space and power back up, hardware, networking and other equipment for secure connectivity with the Customs Automated system; and for exchange of information between Customs Community partners; (k) facilities for auction, including by e-auction, for disposal of uncleared, unclaimed or abandoned cargo; (l) facilities for installation of scanning equipment; (m) security and access control to prohibit unauthorized access into the premises, and (n) such other facilities as the Commissioner of Customs may specify having regard to the custody and handling of imported or export goods in a customs area; (ii) safe, secure and spacious premises for loading, unloading, handling and storing of the cargo for the projected capacity and for the examination and other operations as may be required in compliance with any law for the time being in force; (iii) insurance for an amount equal to the average value of goods likely to be stored in the customs area based on the projected capacity, and for an amount as the Commissioner of Customs may specify having regard to the goods which have already been insured by the importers or exporters. (2) The custodian shall execute a bond equal to the average amount of duty involved on the imported goods and ten per cent. of value of export goods likely to be stored in the customs area during a period of thirty days. (3) The custodian shall also execute a separate bond for an amount equal to ten percent of value of export goods with a bank guarantee for an amount equal to ten percent of the value of the bond, towards the export goods transported from the customs area to any other customs area for export or transshipment, as the case may be; (4) The custodian shall undertake to comply with the provisions and abide by all the provisions of the Act and the rules, regulations, notifications and orders issued thereunder. 16. The Custodian shall - (a) keep a record of imported goods, goods brought for export or transshipment, as the case may be, and produce the same to the proper officer as and when required; (b) keep a record of each activity or action taken in relation to the movement or handling of imported or export goods and goods brought for transhipment; (c) display or make available in any other manner, information of process or movement or handling of imported or export goods and goods brought for transhipment; (d) demarcate separate areas for unloading of imported goods for their storage with respect to the category of importers, nature of goods, place of destination, mode of transportation or any other criterion as the Commissioner of Customs may specify having regard to the custody and handling of imported goods in a customs area; (e) demarcate separate areas for loading of export goods for their storage with respect to categories of exporters, nature of goods, examined and sealed containers or other criterion as the Commissioner of Customs may specify having regard to the custody and handling of export goods in a customs area; (f) not permit goods to be removed from the customs area, or otherwise dealt with, except under and in accordance with the permission in writing of the proper officer; (g) not permit any export cargo to enter the customs area without a shipping bill or a bill of export having been filed with the proper officer; (h) not permit any import cargo to enter the customs area or be unloaded therein without the import report or the import manifest having been filed with the proper officer; (i) be responsible for the safety and security of imported and export goods under its custody; (j) be liable to pay duty on goods pilfered after entry thereof in the customs area; (k) be responsible for the secure transit of the goods from the said customs area to any other customs area at the same or any other customs station in accordance with the permission granted by the proper officer; (l) subject to any other law for the time being in force, shall not charge any rent or demurrage on the goods seized or detained or confiscated by the proper officer; (m) dispose of in the manner specified and within a time limit of ninety days, the imported or export goods lying unclaimed, uncleared or abandoned : Provided that the period of ninety days may be extended by the Commissioner of Customs by such further period as may be allowed, on sufficient cause being shown for delay in the disposal; (n) not make any alteration in the entry or exit points or boundary wall without the permission of the Commissioner of Customs; (o) shall observe the Central Government holidays as followed by the jurisdictional Customs formations and in case of any variation in the working days, intimate the same to Commissioner of Customs and the trade, at least seven days in advance, and (p) abide by all the provisions of the Act and the rules, regulations, notifications and orders issued there under. (2) The custodian shall not lease, gift, sell or sublet or in any other manner transfer any of the premises in a customs area; or sub contract or outsource functions permitted or required to be carried out by him in terms of these regulations to any other person, without the written permission of the Commissioner of Customs. (3) The custodian shall publish and display the schedule of charges for the various services provided by him in relation to the imported goods or export goods in the customs area. 17. The Custodian shall provide adequate infrastructure for computerization and link with the Customs EDI at ICDs/CFS, so that the custodian s computer system and the Customs EDI systems could exchange information/messages. 18. The Commissioner of Customs, Bangalore, vide Notification No. 3/2001-Cus. (N.T.), dated 19-2-2001 had appointed M/s. CWC, EPIP, Whitefield, for the period of 5 years which was further renewed for the period upto 19-2-2011 vide Notification No. 02/2007-CUSTOMS (N.T.), dated 3-5-2007. 1 [Now this Notification is issued for extending the custodianship of M/s. CWC upto 18-2-2016, or until further orders, whichever is earlier.] The Commissioner of Customs, Bangalore, shall have right to terminate the appointment at any time after assigning specific reasons to the Custodian to explain his case. 19. The Central Board of Customs and Excise, New Delhi has considered the request of the custodian for waiver of cost recovery charges with effect from 15-3-2012 subject to the following conditions. a. Exemption from the cost recovery charges would be prospective with no claim for past period. b. The Cost recovery charges upto 15-3-2012 shall be paid by the custodian before 30-3-2012. c. sanction of exemption from cost recovery is issued on yearly basis. Further continuance of this sanction shall be made by the C.B.E.C. on receipt a certificate from the Commissioner to the effect that the performance of the custodian during the preceding year was in accordance with the prescribed bench marks and d. In case the custodian fails to maintain performance as per the prescribed benchmark, in any given year, they will be liable to pay 1.85 times of the cost of the operational posts, i.e. customs personnel deployed during that year. 20. The Custodian has informed that they have entered in to a Strategic Alliance Partnership agreement with M/s. Friends Friends Shipping Private Limited (SAMO 1) and M/s. Pearl Ports Warehousing Private Limited (SAMO 2) for management of the activities of the custodianship and submitted a copy of the agreement. It is observed that the said agreement does not satisfy the conditions stipulated under the Handling of Cargo in Customs Areas Regulations, 2009 and Board s Circulars issued in this regard. Therefore, this renewal of Custodianship shall be subject to the condition that I. 2 [The outsourcing of handling work in the yard by the Custodian through the Strategic Alliance Partnership company shall be limited to the functions such as : ] a. segregation or similar operation b. provision of fork lifts and other material-handling equipments c. cleaning and housekeeping etc which does not take away the primary responsibility of a custodian and the chain of custody of goods. This is as per CBEC Circular No. 450/105/2008-CUS IV dated 25-7-2008. II. This permission shall not be construed as un-restricted leave to the Custodian to delegate any function of the custodian to a person, firm or company other than those specified herein above. III. This permission shall not absolve the Custodian of offence/irregularity pointed out by the Customs department and the penalty thereon on the ground that such act/omissions were committed by the company to whom any of such functions are outsourced. IV. All charges from the users of the services shall be collected by the Custodian only and the custodian has to pay for the activities outsourced. V. The custodian shall submit a compliance report to conditions stipulated herein within two months from the date of issue of this Notification failing which the renewal granted shall be taken up for review. ------------------------------ Notes:- 1. Substituted vide Not. 01/2014 - Dated 11-4-2014 , before it was read as, Now this Notification is issued for extending the custodianship of M/s. CWC which is valid for further five years upto 18-2-2016. 2. Substituted vide Not. 01/2014 - Dated 11-4-2014 , before it was read as, The outsourcing of handling work in the yard by the Custodian through the Strategic Alliance Partnership company shall be limited to