| In today’s fast forward world, with
globe becoming a virtual village, time has become all the more
precious. In global corporate scenario, exploring better business
propositions is the norm of the day. Companies shift their bases
from one place to other, the migration could be intra-national
or international, depending upon the requirement and demands of
their business strategies. Shifting one’s operational base
is extremely sensitive as well as quite cumbersome, which can
often prove to be nerve wrecking. However, to make things easier
and hassle free for you, there comes into play Clearing &
Forwarding Agents (C&F agents).
Professionals at help:
Depending upon the requirements of the customer, the C&F agents
take care of the complete logistics measures concerning the transportation
of your valuable goods. While shifting the base or moving your
other valuable goods across the international borders, getting
clearance from the customs often becomes the biggest challenge.
In absence of proper knowledge about the functionality of the
department, facing the customs can often be a nightmarish experience.
It needs proper professional help to avoid falling in such soup.
To assist you and make things easy at the customs, you can choose
a good C&F agent with good credentials and he will take care
of the rest. C&F agents have trained staff with all the professional
knowledge and know-how of the clearance process at the customs
to make things really easy for the clients.
A View at Customs:
We give you a brief insight into what it takes at the customs,
while your consignments for import or export are waiting to be
processed.
Import: Within India, while
importing your goods, you need to do the cargo declaration that
involves detailed customs clearance procedures. Goods imported
in a vessel/aircraft are charged with customs duty. However, if
the goods are meant for transhipment to other customs station,
or to any place outside India, the customs allow transit without
payment. In such cases, there are only simple transhipment procedures
followed. Section 52 to 56 of the Customs Act can be referred
for this.
For other goods which are offloaded, importers are required to
file an entry (Bill of Entry) for home consumption or warehousing
and pay the leviable duties as per the provisions. However, no
formal Bill of Entry is filed if the goods are cleared through
the EDI system, but the importer is required to file a cargo declaration.
The Bill of Entry is submitted in a set, different copies ar meant
for different purposes. They also have different colour scheme,
mentioning the purpose for which it will be used.
Bill of Entry for goods for domestic consumption are filed in
four copies, the original and duplicate are meant for customs,
third copy for the importer and the fourth is meant for the bank
for making remittances.
In case of non-EDI system and the Bill of Entry filed by the importer
or his representative, the following documents are required:
· Signed invoice
· Packing list
· Bill of Lading or Delivery Order/Airway Bill
· GATT declaration form duly filled in
· Importers/CHA’s declaration
· License wherever necessary
· Letter of Credit/Bank Draft/wherever necessary
· Insurance document
· Import license
· Industrial License, if required
· Test report in case of chemicals
· Adhoc exemption order
· DEEC Book/DEPB in original
· Catalogue, Technical write up, Literature in case of
machineries, spares or chemicals as may be applicable
· Separately split up value of spares, components machineries
· Certificate of Origin, if preferential rate of duty is
claimed
· No Commission declaration
Export: For goods meant for
export clearance, the exporter or his agent has to fulfill quite
a few formalities.
Registration of the goods to be exported comes first. The exporter
has to obtain a PAN based Business Identification number (BIN)
form the Directorate General of Foreign Trade prior to filing
of shipping bill for clearance of export goods. Under EDI system,
PAN based BI is received by the Customs Systems from the DGFT
online. The exporter has to register authorized foreign exchange
dealer code and open a current account in the designated bank
for credit of any drawback incentive.
Next comes, processing of shipping bill (Non-EDI).
Bills of export are to be filed as per the format prescribed in
the Shipping Bill of Export (Form) regulations, 1991. They are
required to be filed along with all documents in original, such
as invoice, AR-4, packing list et al. After the shipping bill
is passed by the Export Department, the exporter presents the
goods to the shed appraiser (export) in docks for examination.
Once the goods are found to be in accordance with the one as declared,
it is given ‘let export’ order, after which the exporter
may contact the preventive superintendent for supervising the
loading of goods on to the vessel.
In case of Processing of Shipping Bill through
EDI systems, the declarations can be filed in prescribed format
through the Service Centers of Customs. This follows a checklist,
whose data is verified by the exporter and then submitted to the
Systems by the Service operator. A Shipping Bill Number is generated
by the systems, which is returned to the exporter. Export items
are assessed for export cess and accordingly the TR-6 challans
for cess is provided to the exporter.
In the mean time all the shipping lines/agents
need to furnish the Export General Manifests (EGM), Shipping Bill
wise, to the customs electronically within a week from the date
of the sailing of the vessel. After the ‘let export’
order is given on the system by the apparaiser, the Shipping Bill
is generated by the system in two copies i.e., one Customs copy,
one exporter’s copy (E.P. copy is generated after submission
of EGM). The exporter or his agent should hand over the exporter
copy of the shipping bill duly signed by the Appraiser permitting
‘Let Export’ to the steamer agent who may then approach
the proper officer (Preventive Officer) for allowing the shipment. |
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