AIR CARGO COMPLEX, ANDHERI
(E),MUMBAI- 99.
PUBLIC NOTICE NO. 28 / 2005
SUB : Implementation of Risk Management
System
(RMS) in Imports –
reg.
Attention of all importers, Custom House
Agents (CHA) and members of the Trade is invited to the Board's circulars
43/2005 and 42/2005 – Cus both dated 24/11/2005 issued from F. No. 450/66/2005 Cus IV on the
Risk Management System (RMS) and the
Accredited Clients Program (ACP), respectively. The detailed procedure for clearance of
the bills of entry under the Indian Customs EDI System (ICES) after the
introduction of the RMS is given below.
2. The Risk Management System will be made operational at this Customs house in a phased manner. Bills of Entry filed in Assessment Groups I to VI will be processed under the newly introduced scheme w.e.f. 7/12/2005. As regards the bills of entry pertaining to other Assessment Groups and Kutcha Bills of entry, the date of implementation will be informed in due course.
3. The objective of the RMS is to strike an
optimal balance between facilitation and enforcement and to enable low risk
consignments to be cleared based on the acceptance of the importer’s self
assessment and without examination. This will enable the department to enhance
the level of facilitation and speed up the process of cargo clearance without
compromising the interests of revenue. With the introduction of the RMS, the
present practice of routine assessment, concurrent audit and examination of
almost all Bills of Entry will be discontinued and the focus will be on quality
assessment, examination and Post Clearance Audit of the selected bills in order
that the resources of the department are utilized more effectively.
4 RMS mechanism: The purpose of RMS is facilitation of a large number of bills of entry, which are perceived to be compliant with the Customs Laws and Regulations. Such BEs will be processed by the system and goods will be ready for out of charge on the basis of the acceptance of self assessment and without any assessment /examination by the officers. Thus when Bills of Entry are filed through ICEGATE or Service Centre, importers would be able to obtain, within a very short time the assessed copies of their Bills of Entry and Challans,. After payment of duty, goods can be cleared on the presentation of the required documents to the examination staff at the concerned shed. Some Bills of Entry will, however, be taken up for assessment and/or examination based on risk parameters and also on a random basis. Similarly bills of entry may get selected for action based on specific intelligence available. Further whenever a specific pattern of non-compliance is noticed, the system may also select such bills of entry for Assessment and/or Examination. All such bills which are selected for action will be processed in the ICES as per the treatment and instructions communicated by the RMS.
5. The RMS Process: Bills of Entry and the Import General Manifest (IGM) filed electronically in the ICES either through the Service Centre or through ICEGATE mode will be forwarded to the RMS. The RMS will process the Bill of Entry and the IGM through a series of steps and generate an electronic output for the ICES. This output will determine whether the Bill of Entry will be taken-up for action (appraisement or examination or both) or be given Out of Charge directly, i.e. after duty - without assessment and examination.
6. Accredited Clients Programme: Importers with a known track record of compliance, called Accredited Clients, will be given assured facilitation. The BEs filed by such importers would be cleared without any assessment and examination. Please refer to CBEC Circular No 42/2005 – Cus dated 24/11/2005 on the subject. All eligible Importers are advised to apply to the Commissioner of Customs (Import) , Air Cargo complex, Sahar, Andheri (East) , Mumbai - 99 and avail the benefits of the scheme. Soon after filing a Bill of entry in the ICES by the accredited client, the system will generate the Bill of entry Number and print a copy of the Bill with the TR6 challan for duty payment. The Importer/CHA shall proceed to the bank for duty payment (if any) before proceeding to take out of charge for the goods. Though self assessment facility and examination waiver are given to the accredited clients, the compulsory compliance requirements (CCRs) for the import of goods must be fulfilled by the importer/CHA before seeking out of charge. Therefore, it is advisable that the CHA/importer keep ready all the certificates, permits, licenses or any other document which are essential for the clearance of the goods or for availing any duty exemption. Soon after goods registration is done in the system, the Examining Officer will check the marks and numbers of the consignment and send the BE for Out of Charge. Appraising officer/ Superintendent will give out of charge in the system, after collecting all the necessary documents (listed below).
7. Changes in the ICES: The RMS will not
alter the existing process and movement of bill of entry in the ICES but for the
abolition of the concurrent audit and changes in Bond management. For B/Es filed in groups other than Export
Promotion Groups, the importer/CHA has to specify the running EDI bond number,
if any, at the time of filing a BE. The Bond debits will be system driven. The
existing system of approval of the quantum of bond debit during assessment by
the Appraising officer will be dispensed with. In view of this, it is advisable
that the importer /CHA should get their bonds registered in the Bonds section
before filing BE and procure a bond number. In all those cases where running
bonds are not available at the time of filing the BE, the importer/CHA must go
to the Bond Section soon after the BE is assessed either by the system or the
Officers for bond debits. Whenever there is a relationship between the importer
and the supplier, and / or where a provisional assessment is necessitated
because of other reasons the Importer / CHA may indicate this requirement in the
relevant column in the Annexure filed at the service center / through
ICEGATE. The ICES will assess the
BE provisionally based on this indication. Please note that goods registration
cannot be done without proper debit of bonds. For expeditious clearance of goods
it is necessary that the importer /CHA is equipped to comply with all the bond -
related requirements before filing the BE.
8. Amendments in BE and IGM: The existing procedure for amendments in the ICES will continue. Whenever the importer/CHA desires to seek an amendment to a Bill of entry, even if such a BE is not selected for action, the Group AC/DC and the group AO should be contacted.
9. Assessment of BE: Any Bill of Entry selected for assessment by the RMS will be sent to the Appraising group AO and the present ICES process will hold good except that there would be no concurrent audit. The instruction for assessment given by the RMS will be followed by the group. The Compulsory Compliance Requirements (CCRs) suggested by the RMS will be examined by the Group. The Appraiser in the group will give examination order in the system. The existing query module in EDI will continue.
10. Examination and Out of Charge:
Based on the RMS output a Bill of entry may be sent for examination alone
without any assessment. Such bills of entry will be examined by the officers
based on the system examination order and suggested CCRs. All other bills selected for examination will be
processed as per the examination order given by the Group and the instructions
given by RMS along with the suggested CCRs. The system
of goods registration followed by the out of charge will continue. In the case
of bills of entry which are not selected for examination, the officers will
inspect the marks and numbers and proceed to give out of charge after the
Importer/CHA complies with the CCRs and produces the
required documents.
11.
Document submission: It is essential that all the
documents are submitted to the proper officer (AO/Superintendent) before getting
Out of Charge to the goods. In addition to the documents required for CCRs, the following documents shall be invariably collected
from the CHA/Importer and docketed after affixing the signature on each of
them:
i)
The Customs copy of
the B/E [First Check/ Finally Assessed] along with the TR6 challan
ii) Copy of the MAWB and HAWB or BL
and HBL, as the case may be.
iii)
Copy of
invoice& packing list [original]
iv)
B/E declaration
with GATT declaration duly signed by the importer& CHA
v)
COO Certificate[wherever required]
vi)
Copies of the Duty
Exemption Certificates (DEC) or any other document essential in granting
exemption benefit for any notification in the B/E.
vii)
Technical write-up,
product literature, catalogue, manual, analytical reports, CE certificates etc
(depending on the item of import and the periodicity of such imports by the same
importer, the Importer may be asked to give a copy of these documents else, the
BE No and Date with which such documents were already given shall be
mentioned).
viii)
Copy of the
Purchase Order, Contract,
ix)
Copy of the
LC,
x)
Ccopy of ADC
clearance
xi)
Ccopy of
delivery Order
xii)
Copy of Bond
/Undertaking if any ,
12. Post Clearance Audit (PCA): The existing system of concurrent
audit shall be abolished and replaced by a Post-Clearance Compliance
Verification (Audit) function. The objective of the Post Clearance Verification
Programme is to monitor, maintain and enhance
compliance levels, while reducing the dwell time of cargo. The selection for PCA
will be done by the RMS. The bills of entry selected for this purpose will be
processed for PCA in ICES. The officers posted in the PCA section will verify
the compliance from
the documents selected by the RMS. The officers will scrutinize
the on screen data and may also look at the documents submitted by the
Importer/CHA at the time of out of charge. The demand note on account of any
short levy will be raised by the PCA section with the prior approval of the
Additional/Joint Commissioner(Audit). Barring cases
requiring detailed investigation, in all cases the department will issue a
consultative letter
to the importer where a potential short levy is discovered during
audit.. The consultative letter will set out the grounds for the
auditor’s view in the matter and seek the importer’s response thereto. In the
event, the department’s view is acceptable to the importer, he may pay the duty difference voluntarily. In case
there is no agreement , the formal processes of demand
notices, adjudication etc., would follow.
13. DATA Quality: The RMS is designed in a manner whereby Importers/CHAs giving proper data in the BE filed will be facilitated. The system identifies the shortcomings in any Bill of Entry and directs such bills for action. Hence, the trade can get maximum benefit out of the system by ensuring that the information submitted in all relevant fields of the bill of entry is complete and accurate. Where data quality is found deficient, the Importers/CHAs would be advised to make improvements in their submissions. The stress is on self assessment of the bill of entry which gets validated by the system and if found compliant, such bill may be sent to out of charge without any action i.e. assessment or examination It hardly needs emphasis that compliance in all its dimensions is in the mutual interest of the Government and the Trade and Industry and it will enable the government to give increasing levels of facilitation.
.14. Expectations from the trade: For gaining the maximum benefit of facilitation, it is necessary that the trade makes use of the ICEGATE for submitting their documents to expedite the processing of their bills. Advance filing of documents will also enable quicker clearance of goods. Importers/CHAs are further advised to use the Digital Signatures while filing their documents in ICES, to avoid misuse by imposters. Please visit http://www.icert.gov.in/ to see more on digital signatures.
15. In case of any difficulties faced in the implementation of the Risk Management System, the Local Risk Manager (LRM), whose address and contact particulars are given below, may be contacted:
Joint Commissioner of Customs (SIIB- Imp) and
Local Risk Manager
Office of the Commissioner of Customs (Import)
Sahar Air Cargo Complex
Andheri (East)
Mumbai – 99
Tel: 022- 26828148
.
Sd/-(02-12-05)
( SANGHAMITRA PANDA
)
COMMISIONER OF CUSTOMS (IMPORTS),
AIR CARGO COMPLEX, MUMBAI.