F.No.450/66/2005-Cus.IV
Government of
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Excise &
Customs
***
To,
All
Chief Commissioner of Customs,
All
Chief Commissioner of Central Excise,
All
Chief Commissioner of Customs & Central Excise,
Director
General , Directorate of Revenue Intelligence,
Sir,
Subject: Introduction of
Accredited Clients Programme (ACP)- regarding-
***
I am directed to invite your
attention to Board's circular letter F.No.450/30/2003-Cus-IV dated
2. Accordingly, the Board has decided to
introduce the Risk Management System
(RMS) with the “Accredited Client’s Programme” (ACP) as its major component. The objective of the programme is to
grant assured facilitation to importers who have demonstrated capacity and
willingness to comply with the laws Customs department is required to
implement. With the implementation of the Risk Management System, this
programme will replace all existing schemes for facilitation in the sites where
RMS is implemented. The RMS is scheduled for implementation from November, 2005
onwards in a phased manner, beginning with the Air Cargo Complex, Sahar,
Mumbai. The dates for implementation would be announced separately.
3. The goal of the Risk Management System
(RMS) is to enable the department to strike an appropriate balance between
trade facilitation and enforcement. Under the RMS, Bills of Entry filed by
importers in the Indian Customs EDI System will be processed for risk and a
larger number of consignments will be allowed clearance based on the importer’s
self assessment without examination, after checking the marks and numbers on
the packages or in the case of Full Container Load (FCL Cargo), the container
numbers and seals, and after taking over the relevant documents from the
importers. Other consignments would be selected for Appraisement or Examination
or both depending on the evaluation of risk by the RMS.
4. Upon introduction of RMS, Concurrent
Audit shall be replaced by Post Clearance Audit for all importers. Post Clearance
Audit will be carried out on Bills of Entry selected by the Risk Management
System.
5. Importers registered by the department
as “Accredited Clients” under the
Accredited Clients Programme will form a separate category to which assured
facilitation would be provided. Except
for a small percentage of consignments selected on a random basis by the RMS,
or cases where specific intelligence is available or where a specifically
observed pattern of non-compliance is required to be addressed, the Accredited
Clients will be allowed clearance on the basis of self assessment i.e. as a
matter of course, clearance would be allowed on the basis of their
declarations, and without examination of goods. Further, this benefit would be
available to the registered Accredited Clients at all the ports in the country
where EDI and the RMS are operational. It is expected that this measure will
bring about drastic reduction in the dwell time of cargo and transaction costs
for such importers.
6. Considering the likely volumes of cargo
that would be imported by the Accredited Clients, Custom Houses may create
separately earmarked facility/counters for providing customs clearance service
to the Accredited Clients. Commissioners of Customs are also required to work
with the Custodians for earmarking separate storage space, handling facility
and expeditious clearance procedures for these clients. Further IMG has also recommended ‘faster
delivery system by creating separate area in the port premises clearly
earmarked for immediate delivery of cargo to specified accredited importers’.
The matter should be taken up with port authorities for having a ‘separate
area’ for accredited importers.
7. The importers desirous of availing the
facility as “Accredited Clients” are required to apply for registration under
the scheme using the Application form attached at Annex – 1. Importers meeting
the following criteria shall be the eligible under the Accredited Clients
Program:
(i)
They should
have imported goods valued at Rs Ten Crores [assessable value] in the previous
financial year; or paid more than Rs One Crore of Customs duty
in the previous financial year; or, in the case of importers who are also
Central Excise assessees, paid Central Excise Duties over Rs. One Crore from
the Personal Ledger Account in the previous financial year.
(ii)
They should
have filed at least 25 Bills of Entry in the previous financial year in one or
more Indian Customs stations.
(iii)
They should
have no cases of Customs, Central Excise or Service Tax booked against them in
the previous three financial years.
Cases booked would imply that there should be at least a show cause
notice, invoking penal provisions, issued to an importer.
(iv)
They should
also not have any cases booked under any of the Allied Acts being implemented by
Customs.
(v)
The quality
of the submissions made by the applicants to Customs should be good as measured
by the number of amendments made in the bills of entry submitted by them in
relation to classification of goods, valuation and claim for exemption benefits.
The number of such amendments should not have exceeded 20% of the bills of
entry during the previous financial year.
(vi)
They should
have no duty demands pending on account of non-fulfillment of Export
obligation.
(vii)
They should
have reliable systems of record keeping and internal controls and their
accounting systems should conform to recognized standards of accounting. They
are required to provide the necessary certificate from their Chartered
Accountants in this regard as per format given in the Application form.
For qualifying
for the ACP, the applicants will have to satisfy any one of the criteria set
out at serial number (i) and all the other criteria set out above. Further, the
accreditation would initially be valid for a period of one year and would be
renewable thereafter upon a review of the compliance record of the Accredited
Client.
8. The Board is shortly establishing the ‘Risk Management Division’ in the
Directorate General of Systems, which will inter
alia be administering the Accredited Clients Program. The list of
Accredited Clients will be maintained centrally in the Risk Management System.
Pending the establishment of the division, the importers may apply to the
Commissioners in charge of the ports through which they import goods. The Commissioners
will, after scrutiny of the applications, forward them to RMS project team in
the Directorate of Systems with their recommendations.
9. The importers who have been granted the
status of Accredited Clients will be required to maintain high levels of
compliance. It will be closely monitored by the Risk Management Division in
co-ordination with the Commissioners of Customs and where compliance levels
fall, the importer will first be informed for improvement. In case of
persistent non compliance, the importer may be deregistered under the
Accredited Client’s Program.
10. In order to ensure that there is no misuse
of the program by imposters (persons who assume the Accredited Client’s name
and identity), it would be mandatory for the accredited clients under the ACP
to file bills of entry using digital signatures. Therefore, importers are
advised to obtain Digital Signature Certificates being issued by CBEC. Where
the Accredited Clients are filing their documents through their Custom House
Agents, they must advise their Custom House Agents to file their bills of entry
using digital signatures granted to them by the department. For obtaining
Digital Signature Certificates, the trade may visit the site at www.icert.gov.in.
11. Additionally, all bills of entry must be
filed by Accredited Clients through the ICEGATE facility and duty in respect of
these consignments must be paid though such Clients’ bank account at the
designated bank.
12. Initially, this scheme will be launched
for Imports at Air Cargo Complex, Sahar where the RMS roll out is likely to
commence in the month of November 2005. This would be followed by the
progressive roll out of the RMS at other locations where EDI is operational.
The importers who are registered as Accredited Clients under the ACP scheme
would get its benefits at all the locations where RMS is operationalised. To
facilitate migration of the eligible importers to the new scheme, it has been
decided that its benefits would be automatically extended to importers who are
availing of any of the existing facilitation schemes for a period of three
months. This is to enable such importers to apply for the Accredited Clients
Programme and get registered under it. It is also clarified that the existing
schemes for facilitation would continue at each of the EDI sites till the RMS
is implemented at that site.
13. Detailed instructions as regards the other
aspects of the Risk Management System will follow.
14. The details of the ACP scheme along with the
Application Package are available at www.cbec.gov.in
and www.icegate.gov.in. Wide
publicity may be given to this scheme through the recognized trade bodies and
chambers of commerce.
15. Receipt
of this Circular may be acknowledged.
16. Hindi
version will follow.
Yours faithfully
(Anupam
Prakash)
Under Secretary to the Government of
Copy to:
1. PS to Chairman (E&C),
2. All Members, CBEC
3. CDR,CESTAT
4. All Directorates, CBEC
5. All Commissioners, CBEC
6. All Joint Secretaries/Directors/Deputy Secretaries,
CBEC
7. All Under Secretaries/STOs/TOs,CBEC
8. Guard file.
(Anupam Prakash)
Under Secretary to the Government of
Annex -1
Application form for
Accredited Clients Programme:
(Please refer to
|
Sl No |
|
|
|
1 |
Name of the Importer |
|
|
2 |
PAN based BIN |
|
|
[Self Attested copy of PAN number to be attached
with Application form ] |
||
|
3 |
IEC |
|
|
4 |
Date of Issue of IEC |
|
|
5 |
State whether a Manufacturer or Trader with
details of major items Manufactured
and/or imported |
|
|
6 |
Constitution
of business. |
|
|
Proprietorship, |
||
|
Partnership |
||
|
Registered
|
||
|
Unregistered
|
||
|
Trust |
||
|
Society |
||
|
others |
||
|
7 |
Bank
Account Details with Account No & Name of the Bank, Address and date
since operated. |
|
|
8 |
History
of the Importer. |
|
|
Whether
any business was owned by the importer in the past, if so previous PAN, IE
Code, Central Excise Registration Number, with all details including address,
telephone number, fax no, Email Address. |
||
|
9 |
Do you
posses any Quality Accreditations such as ISO? If yes, please specify the
particulars. |
|
|
10 |
Have
you implemented any ERP solutions for your accounting, inventory control and
logistics? If yes, please specify the package. |
|
|
11 |
Mention
your Joint Venture partners, if any with details i.e Address, Telephone, Fax,
E-Mail.
|
|
|
12 |
Corporate Address |
|
|
City |
||
|
State |
||
|
PIN |
||
|
Telephone No |
||
|
FAX Number |
||
|
Email Address |
||
|
13 |
Managing Director / Chief Executive officer |
|
|
Name |
||
|
Address |
||
|
PAN No |
||
|
|
||
|
Telephone |
||
|
Fax |
||
|
E-mail Address |
||
|
|
||
|
14 |
Directors/Partners |
|
|
Name |
||
|
Address |
||
|
PAN |
||
|
|
||
|
Telephone |
||
|
Fax |
||
|
E-mail Address |
||
|
15 |
Are the Managing Directors and Directors of the
applicant Company listed as directors of any other Company? If yes, please
furnish the particulars |
|
|
16 |
Name of the Department(s) handling Customs matters |
|
|
Name(s) of the person (s) in charge |
||
|
Address |
||
|
Telephone |
||
|
Fax |
||
|
E-mail Address |
||
|
(Port wise details to be furnished if applicable) |
||
|
|
|
17 |
List of Outsourced activities relating to Customs
and respective firms/persons (Inland transporters, logistics, freight
forwarders etc., ) Name of the
firm: Activity:
Address:
Telephone:
Email
Address: |
|
|
|
18 |
List of Custom House Agents employed at each port,
with date (s) of appointment of the CHA. CHA Name:
Port:
CHA address:
Phone:
Email address: |
|
|
|
19 |
Customs Special Valuation Branch[SVB] Registration
Number, if any, with details including that of last review by the Custom
House |
|
|
|
20 |
Central Excise registration No(s) |
|
|
|
Date of Issue |
|||
|
Commissionerate |
|||
|
Division |
|||
|
Range |
|||
|
21 |
Service Tax Registration No |
|
|
|
Date of Issue |
|||
|
Commissionerate |
|||
|
Division |
|||
|
Range |
|||
|
|
|||
|
22 |
No of Bills of Entry filed at each port in the
previous financial year. Please furnish the details port-wise. |
|
|
|
23 |
Value of Imports at each port and total duty paid
in the previous financial year. |
|
|
|
24 |
Details of
disputes pending with the Customs (pl attach a brief about each
dispute from the Company’s perspective) |
|
|
|
25 |
Has the applicant been penalized under Customs
Act/Central Excise Act/ Service Tax and/or any other enactments implemented
by the Customs department, in the previous 3 financial years? If Yes, Details
of the connected Show cause notice(s), adjudication order(s) etc may be
furnished, along with the present position of the cases, if pending in
Appellate or Judicial forums. |
|
|
|
26 |
Have the Managing Director or any of the Directors
been penalized under Customs Act or Central Excise Act/Service Tax enactment?
Details if yes |
|
|
|
27 |
Are you enjoying Green Channel/Fast Track facility
at any port today? If yes then list the ports and the date(s) from which the
facility is being availed of. |
|
|
|
28 |
Name and designation of the Authorized Signatory |
|
|
|
PAN No of Authorized signatory |
|||
|
Address |
|||
|
Telephone No |
|||
|
FAX number |
|||
|
Email Address |
Declaration:
1. I/We hereby affirm that the
particulars furnished above have been verified from my/our internal records and
are true and complete disclosures. I/We accept that any discrepancy noticed by
the department may debar us at the threshold or at any stage thereafter from
obtaining/continuing with the Accredited Client Status. Any change in the said
particulars will be intimated to the Commissioner of Customs within a fortnight
of such being occasioned.
2. I/We understand that the
Accredited Client status which may be conferred on us is an expression of the
Customs department’s trust in my/our ability and willingness to comply with the
Acts, Rules, Regulations and policies that the Customs department is required
to implement.
3. I/We have understood the
conditions listed in the Accredited Client Program document for continued
enjoyment of the status and undertake to abide by them. We also understand that
waiver of examination of our documents or goods cannot be claimed as a legal
right by me/us in every instance.
4. I/We are willing to align our
systems with the requirements of the Customs department and incur reasonable
expenditure on such initiatives.
5. I/We accept that the decision of
the Customs department in any matter concerning grant, revocation or
curtailment of the Accredited Client status will be final and binding on me/us.
Date:
Place:
Authorized Signatory
Name
Designation
Format of Auditor’s/Chartered accountant’s certificate to
be submitted by ACP Applicants.
(Please refer to
This is to certify that we have gone through the accounts
maintained by Messrs._____ [Importer] and do hereby certify that the accounting
systems followed by Messrs.________ [Importer] conform to the accounting
standards prescribed by the Institute of Chartered Accounts of India. We also
certify that the systems of _________ [Importer} provide for maintenance of
records relating to the receipt, usage and disposal of imported goods for at
least a period of five years from the date of import.
We also
certify that the Messrs.______ [Importer] have/have not implemented ERP based
solutions for their accounts and inventory management systems.
Signature of Authorized signatory
Statutory
Auditor /Chartered Accountant