chennaicustoms.gov.in Procedure for Clearance of Imported Goods : Chennai Customs

Organisation : Chennai Customs
Facility Name : Procedure for Clearance of Imported Goods
Applicable State : Tamil Nadu
Website : https://chennaicustoms.gov.in/import-procedure/

How To Apply For Clearance of Imported Goods in Chennai?

In terms of the Customs Act, 1962 read with the relevant rules and regulations, imported and export goods are subjected to certain legal and procedural formalities before being permitted clearance by Customs. These requirements include the submission of prescribed documents and adherence to laid down procedures before an appropriate legal order is given by the proper officer permitting the importer/exporter to clear the goods for the intended purpose.

Related / Similar Facility : Chennai Customs Procedure for Clearance of Export Goods

Import Procedure Bill of Entry

1. Goods imported into the country attract Customs duty and are also required to confirm to relevant legal requirements. Thus, unless the imported goods are notmeant for Customs clearance at the port/airport of arrival such as those intended for transit by the same vessel/aircraft or transshipment to another Customs station or to any place outside India, detailed Customs clearance formalities have to be followed by the importers.

In contrast, in terms of Section 52 to 56 of the Customs Act,1962 the goods mentioned in the IGM/Import Report for transit to any place outside India or meant for transhipment to another Customs station in India are allowed transit without payment of duty.

In case of goods meant for transhipment to another Customs station, simple transshipment procedure has to be followed by the carrier and the concerned agencies at the first port/airport of landing and the Customs clearance formalities have to be complied with by the importer after arrival of the goods at the other Customs station.

There could also be cases of transshipment of the goods after unloading to a port outside India. Here also simple procedure for transshipment is prescribed, and no duty is required to be paid.

2. For goods which are offloaded at a port/airport for clearance the importers have the option to clear the goods for home consumption after payment of duties leviable or to clear them for warehousing without immediate discharge of the duties leviable in terms of the warehousing provisions of the Customs Act, 1962.

For this purpose every importer is required to file in terms of the Section 46 ibid a Bill of Entry for home consumption or warehousing, as the case may be, in the form prescribed by regulations. The Bill of Entry is to be submitted in sets, different copies meant for different purposes and also bearing different colours, and on the body of the Bill of Entry the purpose for which it will be used is mentioned.

3. The importers have to obtain an Importer-Export Code (IEC) number from the Directorate General of Foreign Trade prior to filing of Bill of Entry for clearance of imported goods. The Customs EDI System receives the IEC number online from the DGFT.

4. If the goods are cleared through the EDI system, no formal Bill of Entry is filed as it is generated in the computer system, but the importer is required to file a cargo declaration having prescribed particulars required for processing of the Bill of Entry for Customs clearance.

5. The importer clearing the goods for domestic consumption through non-EDI ports/airports has to file Bill of Entry in four copies; original and duplicate are meant for Customs, third copy for the importer and the fourth copy is meant for the bank for making remittances.

Along with the Bill of Entry the following documents are also generally required:
(a) Signed invoice
(b) Packing list
(c) Bill of Lading or Delivery Order/Airway Bill
(d) GATT valuation declaration form duly filled in
(e) Importers/CHA’s declaration
(f) Import license, wherever necessary
(g) Letter of Credit, wherever necessary
(h) Insurance document
(i) Import license, where necessary
(j) Industrial License, if required
(k) Test report in case of items like chemicals
(l) DEEC Book/DEPB in original, where relevant
(m) Catalogue, technical write up, literature in case of machineries, spares or chemicals, as applicable
(n) Separately split up value of spares, components, machineries
(o) Certificate of Origin, if preferential rate of duty is claimed

6. While filing the Bill of Entry, the correctness of the information given therein has also to be certified by the importer in the form a declaration at the foot of the Bill of Entry and any mis-declaration/incorrect declaration has legal consequences.

7. Under the EDI system, the importer does not submit documents as such but submits declarations in electronic format containing all the relevant information to the Service Centre. A signed paper copy of the declaration is taken by the service centre operator for non-repudiability of the declaration. A checklist is generated for verification of data by the importer/CHA.

After verification, the data is filed by the Service Centre Operator and EDI system generates a Bill of Entry Number, which is endorsed on the printed checklist and returned to the importer/CHA. No original documents are taken at this stage. Original documents are taken at the time of examination. The importer/CHA also needs to sign on the final document before Customs clearance.

8. The first stage for processing a Bill of Entry is termed as the noting/registration of the Bill of Entry vis-à-vis the IGM filed by the carrier. In the manual format, the importer has to get the Bill of Entry noted in the concerned Noting Section which checks the consignment sought to be cleared having been manifested in the particular vessel and a Bill of Entry number is generated and indicated on all copies.

After noting, the Bill of Entry gets sent to the appraising section of the Custom House for assessment functions, payment of duty etc. In the EDI system, the noting aspect is checked by the system itself, which also generates Bill of Entry number.

9. After noting/registration the Bill of Entry is forwarded manually or electronically to the concerned Appraising Group in the Custom House dealing with the commodity sought to be cleared. Appraising Wing of the Custom House has a number of Groups dealing with commodities falling under different Chapter Headings of the Customs Tariff and they take up further scrutiny for assessment, import permissibility angle etc.

Assessment Under Manual Mode

1. The basic function of the assessing officer in the appraising groups is to determine the duty payable on imported goods taking due note of any exemptions or benefits claimed under different export promotion schemes or other exemption notification. The assessing officer also has to check whether there are any restrictions or prohibitions on the imported goods and if they require any permission/license/permit etc.

Assessment of duty essentially involves proper classification of the imported goods as per the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 having due regard to its Rules of Interpretations, Chapter and Sections Notes etc., and determining the duty liability thereon. It also involves correct determination of value where the goods are assessable on ad valorem basis.

For this, the assessing officer has to take note of the invoice and other declarations submitted alongwith the Bill of Entry in support of the declared value, and adjudge whether the same is acceptable, or needs to be redetermined.

The determination of value is to be done in terms of Section 14 of the Customs Act, 1962 and the valuation rules issued thereunder, the case law and various instructions on the subject. The assessing officer also takes note of the contemporaneous values and other information on valuation available with the Custom House.

2. Where the appraising officer is not clear about the description of the goods from the document or has doubts about the proper classification, which may require detailed examination of the nature of the goods or testing of its samples, he may give an examination order in advance of finalisation of assessment including order for drawl of representative sample.

This is done generally on the reverse of the original copy of the Bill of Entry which is presented by the authorized agent of the importer to the examining staff in the Docks/Air Cargo Complexes where the goods are got examined in the presence of the authorized agent.

3. On receipt of the examination report, the group appraising officer assesses the Bill of Entry, indicating the final classification, valuation, and various duties such as basic, countervailing, anti-dumping, safeguard duty etc. that are leviable. Thereafter the Bill of Entry goes to Assistant Commissioner/Deputy Commissioner for confirmation depending upon certain value limits and sent to computist who calculates the duty amount taking into account the rate of exchange at the relevant date as provided under Section 14 of the Customs Act, 1962.

4. After the assessment and calculation of the duty liability the importer’s representative has to deposit the duty with the treasury or the nominated banks. Thereafter, the goods can be taken delivery of from the custodian. Since the goods have already been examined for finalization of classification or valuation, no further examination/checking by the dock appraising staff is required at the time of giving delivery and the goods can be taken delivery after taking appropriate orders and payment of dues to the custodians, if any.

5. In most cases, the appraising officer assessees the goods on the basis of information and details furnished to the importer in the Bill of Entry, invoice and other related documents including catalogue, write-up etc. The appraising officer also determines whether the goods are permissible for import or are subject to any restrictions/prohibitions.

Thus the appraising officer may allow payment of duty and delivery of the goods on what is called second check/appraising basis in case there are no restriction/prohibition. In this method, the duties as determined and calculated are paid in the Custom House/Bank and appropriate order is given on the reverse of the duplicate copy of the Bill of Entry and the importer or his agent after paying the duty submits the goods for examination in the import sheds in the docks etc., to the examining staff.

If the goods are found to be as declared, and no other discrepancies/mis-declarations etc., are detected, the importer or his agent can clear the goods after the shed appraiser gives out of charge order.

6. Wherever the importer is not satisfied with the classification, rate of duty or valuation as may be determined by the appraising officer, he can seek an assessment order. An appeal against the assessment order can be made to appropriate appellate authority within the time limits and in the manner prescribed.

EDI Assessment

1. In the EDI system of assessment of Bill of Entry, the cargo declaration is transferred to the assessing officer in the groups electronically and assessed thereon with regard to all the parameters as given above for manual process. However, in EDI system, all the calculations are done by the system itself. In addition, the ED system supplies useful information for calculation of duty, for example, when a particular exemption notification is accepted, the system itself gives the extent of exemption under that notification and calculates the duty accordingly.

Similarly, it automatically applies relevant rate of exchange in force while calculating. Thus, no computist is required in EDI system. Also, in the event the assessing officer needs any clarification from the importer, he may raise a query, which is printed at the service centre, and the importer replies to it through the service centre.

2. After assessment, a copy of the assessed Bill of Entry is printed in the service centre. The supporting documents are normally examined at the time of examination of the goods. Final Bill of Entry is printed after ‘out of charge’ is given by the Custom Officer.

3. In EDI system, in certain cases, the facility of system appraisal is available. Under this process, the declaration of importer is taken as correct and the system itself calculates duty which is paid by the importer. In such case, no assessing officer is involved.

4. Also, a facility of kiosk is provided in certain major Customs stations through which the status of documents filed through EDI systems could be ascertained.