 |
OFFICE OF THE
COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS, |
F.No.S.Misc.57/2001-Sys.Unit
01.05.2001.
PUBLIC NOTICE NO.85/ 2001
Sub: Assessment of
Imports against Duty Entitlement Pass Book (DEPB) under ICES – Reg.
<<<<<O>>>>>
Importers,
Exporters, the Custom House Agents and all others concerned are hereby informed that
computerized processing of Bills of Entry relating to imports against DEPB under
Notification 034/97-Cus., dated 07.04.1997, will commence at Chennai Customs (Sea), with
effect from 14.05.2001.
The following
categories of Bs/E combined with DEPB will continue to be processed manually: -
1)
Goods
subject to anti-dumping / safeguard duty
2)
Project
imports
3)
EPCG
Scheme
4)
DEEC
5)
DFRC
6)
Any
other category of B/E, which is being processed manually.
The procedure for
clearance will be as follows:
1. VERIFICATION
OF THE DEPB
The DEPB shall be
verified by the Export Section of the Customs station from where the exports have taken
place. Procedure for verification of DEPB is
prescribed in the Public Notice No.17/2000, dated 13.01.2000, relating to Exports under
DEPB. For this purpose, original DEPB issued
by DGFT shall be produced to the officer designated by Asst./Dy.Commissioner (Group 7)
officer in the Export Department for verification of the Shipping Bills against which the
DEPB has been issued by the DGFT. The officer
designated by Asst./Dy.Commissioner (Group 7) shall verify each shipping bill in the
system through the DEPB verification menu provided for.
In case any manually processed Shipping Bill is involved, the verification shall be
done on the basis of copy of shipping bill received along with the EGM from the carriers. The Shipping Bills shall be endorsed with the
DEPB No., DEPB date, DGFT File No., and Issuing Authority.
After satisfactory verification of all the Shipping Bills, the officer designated
by Asst./Dy.Commissioner (Group 7) shall make an endorsement on the reverse of the DEPB
and the list of Shipping Bills attached with the DEPB to the effect that the verification
of all the Shipping Bills is satisfactorily done and put his signature with date and
official stamp.
2. REGISTRATION
OF DEPB
Before claiming
exemption under Notification 034/1997-Cus., dated 27.04.1997, against a DEPB, the DEPB in
question is required to be registered in the import system.
The officer designated by Asst./Dy.Commissioner (Group 7) to register the DEPB in
the system shall ensure that verification of DEPB with reference to the exports on the
basis of which DEPB is issued by DGFT has been done.
The Customs DGFT
Connectivity has been operationalised at Delhi for exchange of message regarding Importers
Exporter Code. DGFT headquarters is sending
IE Codes alongwith PAN details of all importers and exporters issued by any of its
offices, at Delhi has been received and installed at Chennai Customs. All updations and additions to this Directory are
being downloaded periodically and updated in Chennai Customs EDI System.
NB: The Systems will
not register any DEPB if the IEC details and PAN particulars of the original DEPB holder
have not been electronically transmitted by DGFT to the Customs database. All importers and exporters are advised to ensure
that their IEC details with PAN have been transmitted by DGFT to Customs at the time of
obtaining the DEPB. Please refer Public
Notice No.058/2001 dated 19.03.2001.
The officer
designated by Asst./Dy.Commissioner (Group 7) shall make data entry of the DEPB details in
the system through the ‘MENU’ specified for Licence Management. After entry of data a checklist will be printed by
the System. The DEPB holder shall verify the
details of DEPB in the check list, if the same is correct, the DEPB holder shall sign the
check list and return the same to the officer designated by Asst./Dy.Commissioner (Group
7). The officer designated by
Asst./Dy.Commissioner (Group 7) shall then register the DEPB in the System.
On registration of
DEPB, System sill generate a “REGISTRATION NUMBER” which shall be endorsed on
the face of the original DEPB in bold figures with the name of CUSTOMS STATION at which
registered. For further activities, either
for debiting against a B/E or obtaining a Release Advice, only this registration number
shall be used. Without the registration, the
system will not accept any claim of exemption of RA against a DEPB.
The DEPBs which have
already been partly utilized before the introduction of on-line processing, will be
registered for the balance of DUTY CREDIT and FOB of exports in the manner as stated
above.
2.1
In
case any change in the data of DEPB is required to be made after completion of
registration, the same shall be made by the Assistant / Deputy Commissioner (Group 7).
3.
TRANSFER RELEASE
ADVICES
(i) Issue of
Release Advices
If the DEPB holder
intends to utilize the DEPB at a Customs Station other than the port of registration, an
application shall be made to the officer designated by Asst./Dy.Commissioner (Group 7) in
the existing from indicating DEPB REGISTRATION NUMBER.
If the officer is satisfied on examination of the request on merits, he may grant
permission for issue of TRA. The TRA Number
shall be assigned manually. Following
particulars shall be entered in the System through the menu relating to transfer release
advice:
Release Advice No.
Release Advice Date
DEPB Registration
No.
Custom Station to
which issued
IEC of R.A.holder
if different from DEPB holder
DUTY CREDIT AMOUNT
transferred
Export FOB amount
transferred
Invoice No.
Master BL No. /
Date
House BL No. / Date
Optional
Conditions, if any
If the DEPB is
already registered in the System and a sufficient balance in the Duty Credit amount and
the Export FOB value is available, the System will print a check list of TRA. The check list shall be verified by the DEPB
Holder. If the particulars are correct the
check list will be signed by the DEPB holder and returned to the proper officer who will
exercise option for issue of TRA in the System. The
System shall generate three copies of the RELEASE ADVICE titled as:
Customs copy – for port of issue (office copy)
Customs copy – for port of clearance
Importers copy
The office copy for
Port of Issue, shall be retained by the TRA issuing Customs Station and placed in the
respective TRA file. Customs copy for port of
clearance will be dispatched to the respective Customs Station and the Importers copy of
TRA shall be handed over to the applicant.
(ii)
Receiving of
Transfer Advices
The TRAs recived from other Customs Station will be registered in the System through licence registration menu, in the same manner as the DEPB scrip. On registration of TRA against a DEPB, the system will generate a TRA REGISTRATION NUMBER. This Registration Number should be endorsed on the Importer’s copy of TRA (original) and the Customs copy received from the issuing Customs station.
(iii)
Re-credit of
unutilized Release Advices
Any unutilized credit in the Release Advice may be re-credited to the DEPB by the
Assistant/Deputy Commissioner (Group 7).
4. CLAIM OF
EXEMPTION AGAINST A DEPB / DEPB-TRA
The format of
declaration (Annexure-I) required to be made by the Importer / CHA at the Service
Centre for clearance of imported goods, appended to Public Notice No.242/98 dated
08.12.1998 and amended by Public Notice No.60/2001, dated 27.03.2001, has been revised
to incorporate a new Serial No.21A along with Serial No.21 as appended to this Public
Notice, to facilitate the declaration of claims of exemptions under DEPB and other
Schemes.
The declarations
shall be filled by the importers in the revised format in Annexure-I. The normal exemption can be claimed as usual
against an item in the B/E under S.No.21. If
exemption is also claimed against a DEPB under Notification 34/97-Cus. Dated 07.04.1997,
the entries shall be made in Annexure-I under Serial No.21A. For DEPB Bs/E the scheme code is ‘B’;
therefore while claiming exemption under the DEPB, ‘B’ will be entered in column
1 of Sl.No.21A. Similarly codes will be
assigned to other schemes when they are brought on to ICES.
In case more than one
DEPB is required to be debited against one item, the importer will be required to indicate
the DEPB Registration No. and CIF value of the goods for each DEPB to cover the entire CIF
value against that item.
For each item claimed
for exemption under DEPB, details referred to above will be required to be indicated.
The System will
determine the duty amount on the basis of CIF/Quantity of goods and shall debit the duty
from the DEPB credit ledger and the CIF amount from the FOB of Exports. If sufficient balance to cover the CIF value and
the Duty foregone is not available in the DEPB, the System will disallow submission of the
B/E.
For indicating the
option of payment of Additional Duty (equal to Excise Duty) or claiming exemption
therefrom, the option shall be exercised by indicating ‘Y’ or ‘N’ in
column 3 of Sl.No.21A. The column number 5
(serial number of item in the licence list) and 7 (quantity for licence debit) are not
required to be filled in for DEPB Bs/E.
If the basic customs
duty and the additional customs duty debitable to the licence is zero, the DEPB exemption
will not be admissible to that item. System
will not allow exemption under Notification 34/97 for that item.
For claiming the
exemption from SAD, related Notification and Sl.No. of item in the notification should be
indicated as is being done at present. Without
such a claim, exemption from SAD will not be available.
5. CHECK LIST
OF B/E
After data entry,
checklist will be printed as usual and given to the importers/CHAs for verifying the
correctness of data captured. For
identification against the respective item, ‘(DEPB)’ and Notification 34/97 will
appear. At the end of the check list, a
statement of debits of EXPORT FOB (= import CIF) and duty sought to be debited, DEPB wise
against an item Sl.No. of an invoice, will also be printed.
The importers/CHAs
should check the details of DEPB No. carefully to ensure that only that DEPB would be
debited which he intended to do so. If the
entries are correct, the checklist may be returned to the data entry operator for
submission of B/E in the System. Errors, if
any, noticed may be got corrected by the data entry operator.
6. SUBMISSION
OF B/E
On submission of the
B/E in the System, an UN-ASSESSED copy of the B/E will be printed by the System containing
statement of debit of DEPB for export FOB and Duty amount in respect of each item of an
invoice for which exemption is claimed against DEPB.
7. ASSESSMENT
OF B/E
All the Bs/E where
exemption against DEPB is claimed will be directed for assessment to Group 7. This un-assessed copy of the B/E along with all
the original import documents and all the DEPB scrips in original indicating total amount
of duty credit and export FOB utilized, in the debit sheet attached to the scrips, should
be presented to the Import Appraiser in Group 7 for assessment and signatures on debit
sheets of DEPB scrips. The Appraiser in
Group 7 will retrieve the B/E on screen and assess the B/E in respect of all the items and
shall countersign the debits in the original DEPB. After
assessment by Appraiser Group, the B/E will move to the Auditor for concurrent audit and
from auditor to A.C/D.C group. The auditor as
well A.C/D.C will retrieve the B/E on screen and carry out the checks assigned to them. After A.C/D.C confirms the assessment, assessed
copy of the B/E will be printed along with TR-6 Challan, Duty will be paid as usual.
Where the Appraising
Officer, during the process of assessment, denies the exemption claimed under Sl.No.21
(column 5 and / or 7) of Annexure to this Public Notice; changes the tariff heading or
enhances the value resulting in increase in the duty amount and the value; the Appraising
Officer will have the option to enter the new DEPB for CIF value corresponding to the
enhanced duty / CIF against that item.
8. DEPB DEBIT
LEDGER
On registration of
DEPB or TRA in the System, the System will maintain the ledger for duty credit amount and
export FOB. Where the exemption from both the
basic customs duty as specified in the First Schedule to CTA’75 and additional duty
leviable under Section 3 of CTA’75 are claimed, the sum of basic duty and additional
duty amount will be debited to the duty credit in DEPB.
The CIF of the related items will be debited to export FOB in the DEPB. Where exemption from additional duty is not
claimed, only basic duty will be debited. These
debits will be made by the System in the DEPB Ledger.
If more than one DEPB is utilized against an item only CIF amount to be debited
against each DEPB should be indicated by the importers.
The duty amount will be proportionately calculated by the System for debit in the
DEPB. The importers therefore should ensure
that sufficient balance in the duty credit amount and export FOB is available in the DEPB
to cover amounts of both components, for debiting, failing which the system will not
accept the declaration for B/E.
In case the importer
desires to utilize the DEPB for part of the quantity of an item in the invoice, he may
split the quantity of that item and prepare the declaration accordingly.
9. DEBITING
OF DEPB AGAINST MANUAL B/E
There are certain
categories of imports for which Bills of Entry are processed manually. Importers may choose to avail the exemption under
the DEPB Scheme for such importers and get the DEPB debited for payment of duty. In such cases manual Bs/E will be assessed as
usual. After assessment, the amount of duty
forgone due to exemption under DEPB and the CIF of goods imported being cleared against
DEPB will be computed manually in respect of each DEPB scrip.
The officer
designated by Asst./Dy.Commissioner (Group 7) in the assessing Group will debit the
original DEPB. He will also enter the amount
of duty foregone and the CIF of the exempted goods in the System, in the respective field
of duty credit and Export FOB. The debit
screen can be accessed through the DEPB Registration Number. After debiting, the System will print the
statement of debits of the DEPB in triplicate. The
copies of this print will be attached with the manual B/E, DEPB file and DEPB scrip. Importers are therefore required to register the
DEPBs even when clearances are sought against manually assessed Bs/E.
10. RES USERS
The RES Users in the
beginning will be allowed to file the DPPB B/E through the Service Centre till appropriate
software for RES is developed and provided to the RES Users.
In case of any
difficulty, Assistant/Deputy Commissioner (Group 7)/EDI in the Custom House may be
approached.
Sd/-
.
(JOSEPH
DOMINIC)
COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS (SEA)
// Attested //
(S.K. RAHMAN)
DEPUTY COMMISSIONER
OF CUSTOMS (SYSTEMS)
