TIOL-DDT 2835
29 04 2016
Friday

CERTAIN relevant provisions of the Customs Act:

SECTION 92. Entry of coastal goods. - (1) The consignor of any coastal goods shall make an entry thereof by presenting to the proper officer a bill of coastal goods in the prescribed form.

(2) Every such consignor while presenting a bill of coastal goods shall, at the foot thereof, make and subscribe to a declaration as to the truth of the contents of such bill.

SECTION 93. Coastal goods not to be loaded until bill relating thereto is passed, etc. - The master of a vessel shall not permit the loading of any coastal goods on the vessel until a bill relating to such goods presented under section 92 has been passed by the proper officer and has been delivered to the master by the consignor.

SECTION 94. Clearance of coastal goods at destination. - (1) The master of a vessel carrying any coastal goods shall carry on board the vessel all bills relating to such goods delivered to him under section 93 and shall, immediately on arrival of the vessel at any customs or coastal port, deliver to the proper officer of that port all bills relating to the goods which are to be unloaded at that port.

(2) Where any coastal goods are unloaded at any port, the proper officer shall permit clearance thereof if he is satisfied that they are entered in a bill of coastal goods delivered to him under sub-section (1).

SECTION 95. Master of a coasting vessel to carry an advice book. -(1) The master of every vessel carrying coastal goods shall be supplied by the Customs authorities with a book to be called the "advice book".

(2) The proper officer at each port of call by such vessel shall make such entries in the advice book as he deems fit, relating to the goods loaded on the vessel at that port.

(3) The master of every such vessel shall carry the advice book on board the vessel and shall on arrival at each port of call deliver it to the proper officer at that port for his inspection.

SECTION 96. Loading and unloading of coastal goods at customs port or coastal port only. - No coastal goods shall be loaded on, or unloaded from, any vessel at any port other than a customs port or a coastal port appointed under section 7 for the loading or unloading of such goods.

SECTION 97. No coasting vessel to leave without written order. - (1) The master of a vessel which has brought or loaded any coastal goods at a customs or coastal port shall not cause or permit the vessel to depart from such port until a written order to that effect has been given by the proper officer.

(2) No such order shall be given until -

(a) the master of the vessel has answered the questions put to him under section 38;

(b) all charges and penalties due in respect of that vessel or from the master thereof have been paid or the payment secured by such guarantee or deposit of such amount as the proper officer may direct;

(c) the master of the vessel has satisfied the proper officer that no penalty is leviable on him under section 116 or the payment of any penalty that may be levied upon him under that section has been secured by such guarantee or deposit of such amount as the proper officer may direct;

(d) the provisions of this Chapter and any rules and regulations relating to coastal goods and vessels carrying coastal goods have been complied with.

SECTION 98. Application of certain provisions of this Act to coastal goods, etc. - (1) Sections 33, 34 and 36 shall, so far as may be, apply to coastal goods as they apply to imported goods or export goods.

By Notification No. 43/97-Cus(NT), dated 11.09.1997, Government exempted vessels carrying exclusively coastal goods from the provisions of section 92, section 93, section 94, section 97 and sub-section (1) of the section 98 of the Act.

By Notification No. 15/98-Cus. (N.T.), dated 27-2-1998, Government exempted vessels carrying exclusively coastal goods from the delivery of the advice book on arrival at each port of call to the proper officer at that port.

That is, all the above extracted provisions of the Customs Act (except Section 96) were inapplicable to vessels carrying exclusively coastal goods.

Now the Government has rescinded the above two notifications and exempted vessels carrying exclusively coastal goods from the provisions of section 92, section 93, section 94, section 95, section 97 and sub-section (1) of the section 98 of the Act.

Notification No. 56/2016-Cus(NT)., Dated: April 27, 2016

Customs - Coastal Transport - Manifest to be filed

GOVERNMENT has directed that the provisions of sections 30 and 41 of the Customs Act shall apply to vessels carrying exclusively coastal goods operating from berths used by vessels carrying imported goods or export goods, as the case may be and the person-in-charge of such vessel or his agent shall deliver to the proper officer, a coastal manifest, prior to the arrival of the vessel or departure as the case may be, in the Form prescribed .

SECTION 30. Delivery of import manifest or import report. - (1) The person-in-charge of -

(i) a vessel; or

(ii) an aircraft; or

(iii) a vehicle,

carrying imported goods or any other person as may be specified by the Central Government, by notification in the Official Gazette, in this behalf shall, in the case of a vessel or an aircraft, deliver to the proper officer an import manifest by presenting electronically prior to the arrival of the vessel or the aircraft, as the case may be, and in the case of a vehicle, an import report within twelve hours after its arrival in the customs station, in the prescribed form and if the import manifest or the import report or any part thereof, is not delivered to the proper officer within the time specified in this sub-section and if the proper officer is satisfied that there was no sufficient cause for such delay, the person-in-charge or any other person referred to in this sub-section, who cause such delay, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding fifty thousand rupees.

Provided that the Principal Commissioner of Customs or Commissioner of Customs may, in cases where it is not feasible to deliver import manifest by presenting electronically, allow the same to be delivered in any other manner.

(2) The person delivering the import manifest or import report shall at the foot thereof make and subscribe to a declaration as to the truth of its contents.

(3) If the proper officer is satisfied that the import manifest or import report is in any way incorrect or incomplete, and that there was no fraudulent intention, he may permit it to be amended or supplemented.

SECTION 41. Delivery of export manifest or export report. - (1) The person-in-charge of a conveyance carrying export goods shall, before departure of the conveyance from a customs station, deliver to the proper officer in the case of a vessel or aircraft, an export manifest by presenting electronically, and in the case of a vehicle, an export report, in the prescribed form :

Provided that the Principal Commissioner of Customs or Commissioner of Customs may, in cases where it is not feasible to deliver the export manifest by presenting electronically, allow the same to be delivered in any other manner.

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(2) The person delivering the export manifest or export report shall at the foot thereof make and subscribe to a declaration as to the truth of its contents.

(3) If the proper officer is satisfied that the export manifest or export report is in any way incorrect or incomplete and that there was no fraudulent intention, he may permit such manifest or report to be amended or supplemented.

Notification No. 57/2016-Cus(NT)., Dated: April 27, 2016

Customs - Coastal Transport - The Missing CBEC Circular

IT is understood that the CBEC has issued a Circular No.14/2016, dated 27.04.2016 regarding carriage of coastal cargo from one Indian port to another port in vessels carrying out coastal runs. But the Circular is not yet made public. The CBEC website mentions the Circular, but when you click on the link, it takes you the previous Circular No.13/2016! Maybe during the day, they will make it available.

And, the Board does it - The Circular 14/2016-Cus is now online - Incidentally, the Board Circular 40/97-Cus is withdrawn

AFTER we uploaded today's DDT, Board has now uploaded the correct link in their website.

The Board clarifies that:

All Coastal Vessels carrying exclusively coastal goods and operating from coastal or EXIM berths shall be exempted from the provisions of Section 92, 93, 94, 95, 97 and sub-section (1) of section 98 of the Customs Act, 1962. The exemption from the provisions of section 95 was not available earlier. A new notification No. 56/2016-Cus (N.T.) dated the 27th April 2016 has been issued in this regard.

In the case of coastal vessels loading or unloading coastal goods at EXIM berths,

provisions of sections 30 & 41 of the Customs Act, 1962 have been made applicable. A new format for filing a coastal manifest in respect of such vessels has been notified vide notification No. 57/2016-Cus (N.T.) dated the 27th April 2016. The Master of the vessel or his agent shallsubmit as prescribed in notification No. 57/2016-Cus (N.T.) dated the 27th April 2016:

(b) coastal departure manifest for the goods loaded including goods on board for other destinations

The arrival and departure coastal manifests shall be prepared in duplicate. The original shallbe submitted to the proper officer and duplicate would be retained by the Master of the vessel orhis agent. The arrival manifest is submitted before the arrival of the vessel and the departuremanifest is submitted before the departure of the vessel.

The revised procedure shall apply to Indian vessels, Indian flag foreign vessels or foreign vessels eligible for cabotage relaxation vide No. SR 14020/5/2009-MG/CS/-Vol.VII dated2.9.15 issued by the Ministry of Shipping.

In the case of cabotage covered foreign vessels, the relaxation shall be co-terminous with the said order of the Ministry of Shipping.

The container carrying coastal goods shall be clearly marked with the words "For coastal Carriage Only" on all sides. There shall be no examination of the coastal goods, the container shall be sealed with tamper proof one time bottle seal and then the same can be loaded on to the vessel.

Non-containerised cargo shall also be allowed to be loaded on to the vessel provided it is clearly marked on the packing Tor Coastal Carriage Only' to make it easily identifiable.

The preventive officers with the prior approval of Additional Commissioner/ Joint Commissioner (preventive wing) may from time to time carry out random checks so as to ensure that no export goods or imported goods are inadvertently or by intention loaded onto such coastal vessels.

CBEC Circular No. 14/2016-Cus., Dated: April 27 2016

Excise Duty on Gold - No Rollback because of organised agitation - FM

YESTERDAY the Finance Minister replied to a Calling Attention in the Rajya Sabha on imposition of Central Excise Duty on the gold jewellery by the Government leading to resentment among jewellers in the country: -

Several public debates have also taken place on this issue for the past some weeks. I have also had talks with the people associated with this business. I have got an opportunity to understand their grievances as well. A plea was given that bigger ones were exempted while smaller ones were taxed. But the fact is quite contrary to this. This excise duty has not been imposed on any small jeweler. According to the exemptions provided, if the turnover of anyone during the last year was under 12 crore rupees and is less than 6 crore rupees in the next year, he is exempted. I would like to clarify that it will be enforced upon the traders having turnover of 12 crores and 6 crores of rupees and not on lower category of traders. We can decide the items which can be taxed.

It is not possible to recall the tax due to some organised agitation.

The State of Kerala is on the top in the list of the states which have taxed the gold by imposing 5 percent tax and the same books have to be maintained. Imitation jewellery is taxed at 6 per cent excise in this country. When the small items are being taxed in the country, then there is no reason that a luxury item should be kept outside the tax net. If we are moving towards the GST, gold has to be taxed. GST council will decide the tax rate, but the main issue is whether the upper cap should be within the constitution or outside of it. If you want to have luxury items out of GST, then you will have to enhance the duty on essential items to maintain the 18 percent cap. It is not possible to keep luxury items out of taxation indefinitely. We can maintain a reasonable cap by taxing these items. Keeping in view the various features of the gold trade, no physical verification will be done by any authority. You have to pay the tax on self certification. We are also ready to extend more facilities for avoiding any type of harassment of the traders. We have formed a committee in which three nominees are to be from the trader's side. 206 traders have registered themselves till date and we have also extended the registration date. The Centre has no other option but to impose excise tax. As and when GST is implemented, VAT imposed by the States and central excise will be merged. Then, they have to pay tax on all items, including the luxury items. I would also like to condemn the wrong propaganda in this regard and assure you that small traders will be out of its ambit.

Import of Goods: Import Data Processing and Monitoring System (IDPMS)

RESERVE Bank of India had constituted a Working Group comprising of representatives from Customs, Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), Special Economic Zone (SEZ), Foreign Exchange Dealers Association of India (FEDAI) and select Authorised Dealer banks (AD banks), to suggest putting in place a comprehensive IT- based system to facilitate efficient processing of all import transactions and effective monitoring thereof. The Working Group had recommended development of a robust and effective IT- based system "Import Data Processing and Monitoring System"

Primary data on import transactions from Customs and SEZ will first flow to the RBI secured server and thereupon depending on the AD code shall be shared with the respective banks for taking the transactions forward. The AD bank shall enter every subsequent activity, viz. document submission, outward remittance data, etc. in IDPMS so as to update the RBI database on real time basis. It is therefore, necessary that AD banks upload and download data on daily basis.

AD Category - I banks shall put in place a system to ensure that all import transactions and related remittances are processed only through IDPMS from the date to be notified shortly. The AD category - I banks should, therefore be in readiness mode for switching to the proposed IT based system.

A P (DIR Series) CIRCULAR NO. 65/RBI., Dated: April 28, 2016

CBEC posts 187 IRS Probationers to the Field

CBEC has posted 187 IRS probationers to field offices under zonal Chief Commissioners. These newly recruited Assistant Commissioners fully trained by NACEN will hit the field soon.

CBEC F.No. A-22013/03/2016-Ad.II., Dated: April 28, 2016

CBI arrests two Income Tax Officers and a driver - One Bribe and three arrests

AN Income Tax Officer in Belagavi, Karnataka demanded four lakh rupees from an assessee for dropping prosecution proceedings. On negotiation, the demand was reduced to Rs. 2.5 lakh and the officer directed the assessee to pay the same through another Income Tax Officer posted at Vijapura (Karnataka).

The other Income Tax Officer directed the assessee to deliver the money to his driver(private person).

CBI laid a trap and caught the driver red handed while accepting the bribe of Rs.2.5 lakh from the assessee at Vijapura. CBI also arrested both the Income Tax Officers.

Unity is not always strength.

Until Monday with more DDT

Have a nice weekend.

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