Clarifications on the legislative changes in Section 46 of Customs Act, 1962

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..... / Sir, Subject: Clarifications on the legislative changes in Section 46 of Customs Act, 1962-reg. Reference is invited to the amendments in Section 46 of the Customs Act, 1962 introduced through 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. However, Board is empowered to prescribe different .....

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..... 0 days prior to the expected arrival of the aircraft or vessel or vehicle upto the end of day preceding the day of such arrival. Similarly, changes have been carried out in the Bill of Entry (Forms) Regulations, 1976 vide Notification No.35/2021-Customs (N.T.) dated 29.03.2021 in case of manual filing of BEs. 2.1. For clarification of the importers and trade, the changes that have been made effective vide the above stated notification dated 29.03.2021 are as follows :- S. No. Customs Station Bill of Entry is Required to be Filed Latest by End of the Day of Arrival of the Vessel/Aircraft/Vehicle Bill of Entry is Required to be Filed Latest by the End of Day Preceding the Day of Arrival of the Vessel/Aircraft/Vehicle (1) (2) (3) ( .....

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..... igned from let us say, Hong Kong, but merely transhipped through Sri Lanka, Bill of Entry is required to be filed latest by the end of day preceding the day of the arrival of the vessel. Removal of the need for MBL/MAWB in Advance BE : 3. Several representations have been received regarding the non-availability of MBL/MAWB within the prescribed time-limits leading to delay in filing advance BE. Upon carefully examining this matter and noting the genuine difficulties of the importers, Board has decided to do away with the requirement of MBL/MAWB for the filing of advance BE. Only the reference to House Bill of Lading (HBL)/ House Airway Bill (HAWB) would be sufficient at the time of advance filing. Thus, an importer can now file the advanc .....

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