TIOL-DDT 2865
10 06 2016
Friday

IT looks like the Board has a felt a need to review the process of application for a warehouse licence and the form used for the same. For the purpose of certainty in providing information by applicants and transparency in procedure regarding processing of applications, the Board has prescribed the Form to be used by an applicant seeking a licence for a bonded warehouse.

This application form has been prescribed for use by applicants for new warehouses to be licensed and is not required to be filed by existing licensees covered under the transitional provisions.

Board informs:

1. The form has been designed in a manner so as to also serve as a checklist for obtaining information relevant for evaluation of the applicant at one go and ascertaining the facilities for security of goods available at the proposed site.

2. This information is expected to enable a comprehensive assessment of the applicant and of the premises by the licensing authority. However, it may be borne in mind that warehouses vary widely in characteristics and type of goods stored. Absence of certain features (for example,absence of CCTVs or burglar alarms in case of certain types of sites) shall be acceptable in some situations. It is, therefore, expected that the Licensing authorities shall exercise their good judgement viz. a viz. the security features installed by the licensee by keeping in mind the type of site and nature of goods proposed to be stored.

3. The prescribed application form should be made available on the website of the Commissionerates for the ease of reference by trade.

4. The Board has desired that all Commissionerates shall undertake to examine and complete the process of granting a licence within 30 days of the receipt of the application. The Bond officer must complete the process of examining the application, visiting the premises to be licensed and submitting his report to the Principal Commissioner / Commissioner within 15 days of the receipt of the application. The approval or rejection of the application by the Licensing Authority (Principal Commissioner / Commissioner) should be completed within the next 15days.

5. The Board has taken cognizance of the fact that in the absence of standard operating procedures for antecedent verification of the applicant, varied practices have been followed by Commissionerates. In some Commissionerates, verification is conducted by limiting inquiries to their jurisdiction, while in others, references are made across jurisdictions. The delays in receiving responses from formations to whom references are made for verification often leads to applications being kept pending for long periods. In view of the Government's emphasis on a trust based tax administration, it has been decided to incorporate relevant declarations required from the applicant, in the form itself, on the basis of which the application for a license can be processed. With specific regard to serial number 5 of the “Declaration” in the application form, a system of post verification can be followed. It is also proposed that a centralized system of verification be followed by referring the name of the applicant and Directors/Partners/Proprietor to DRI (HQ) and DGCEI (HQ) for checking antecedents and the existence of any past cases, instead of referring to all formations. This system will ensure that adhering to time limits in processing of applications becomes feasible.

6. The License granted under the regulations shall remain valid till its surrender /cancellation. Henceforth, there shall be no requirement for renewal of warehousing license on annual basis.

7. Since the licensee is required to renew the insurance policy annually and continue to comply with solvency conditions (as applicable), the same shall be required to be submitted annually.

CBEC Circular No.26/2016-Customs., Dated June 09, 2016

Customs - Chandigarh Notified as Customs airport

CBEC has notified Chandigarh as a Customs airport for "Unloading of imported goods and the loading of export goods or any class of such goods". Till now Chandigarh was a Customs airport for (i) Unloading of baggage and the loading of baggage and (ii) Unloading of imported goods and the loading of export goods related to Ministry of Defence.

CBEC Notification No. 83/2016 -Customs (NT)., Dated June 09, 2016

Augmentation of Infrastructure in CBEC

DIRECTORATE General of Human Resource Development (Infrastructure & Welfare Wing) Central Excise & Customs has communicated to all the Chief Commissioners the concern of the Member (A) on infrastructure.

1. Member (Admn) has emphasized to assess the updated infrastructure requirements as there is acute shortage of office space as well as residential units consequent to Cadre Restructuring in 2014. In fact, at present almost 30% offices are still operating from hired spaces. This position needs to be corrected on priority.

2. Member (Admn) has also desired that before the forthcoming CCs/DGs Conference on 16-18th June 2016, a dedicated "Infrastructure Cell" be constituted in each Zone, if not done already, headed by a DC/AC with an adequate supplement of Supdt./ Inspectors, who may be assigned tasks related to processing of infrastructure proposals to effective coordinate between the Commissionerate/ Zone/ DGHRD and the Ministry.

3. Further, the CCs may also explore the options available in their zone/city to address the requirement of residential accommodation. The Chief Commissioners should meet the senior officers of the local CPWD/ Dte.of Estate/ Local Housing Boards/ or reputed private builders to acquire the available residential units for meeting the requirement.

4. It is reiterated that all Infrastructure related proposals are to be drafted in accordance with the Guidelines prescribed in the "Manual of Infrastructure" issued by DGHRD and inline with the prescribed norms of CPWD & GFRs and the existing CVC guidelines, while inviting bids/ tenders through Expression of Interest for acquiring residential units or for hiring office accommodation.

DGHRD, CBEC F.No.916/06/Priority Project/HRD/2015., Dated June 09, 2016

TDS - Simplification of Procedure - CBDT Clarification

THE existing provisions of Section 197A of the Income Tax Act provide that tax shall not be deducted if the recipient of certain payments furnishes to the payer a self declaration in Form 15G/15H. The manner of filing such declarations and particulars are laid down in Rule 26C of the income Tax Rules.

In this connection the Income Tax Department specifies that:

The due date for quarterly furnishing of 15G/15H declarations received by the payer from 1.4.2016 onwards shall be:

The declarations received during the period 1.10.2015 to 31.3.2016 should be filed on or before 30th June 2016.

Pr.DG Income Tax (Systems) Notification No. 9/2016., Dated June 09 2016

FTP - FPS Benefits to Other Cast Articles of Iron & Steel - DGFT Clarifies

THE following entries in the Appendix 370 provides benefit of FPS to the Articles of Iron & Steel.

One of the RAs raised a doubt:

If the purpose of FTP is to grant FPS benefit only to Malleable Products under the ITC (HS) Code 73259920 and 73259930, then Sl. No. 279 of Appendix 37 D with ITC(HS) Code 7325 is invalid.

If the purpose of FTP is to grant FPS to all the products falling under the ­ HS Code group 7325 whether it is malleable or not then all the claim with Sl. No 279 of Appendix 37 D with ITC (HS) Code 7325 is valid .

The DGFT examined the issue and observed, “The entry at Sl. No. 279 of Appendix 37 D with ITC (HS) Code 7325 does not have any condition that the products are to be malleable or non- malleable.”

The DGFT, therefore, clarifies: all "Other Cast Articles of Iron or Steel" falling under the four digit ITC(HS) Code 7325 whether malleable or non-malleable are eligible for FPS under the entry at Serial No. 279 of Appendix D.

Is the question raised by the RA answered?

DGFT Trade Notice No. 08/2016., Dated: June 09, 2016

Customs - Classification of Artificial fingernails, Coconut Water

WHERE do you classify artificial fingernails? Yes artificial fingernails! The WCO Harmonized System Committee (57th Session - March 2016) considered this question and suggested that they should be classified under 3926.90.

The classification description is:

Fully-formed, decorated, artificial fingernails, of plastics. Users adhere the plastic fingernails to the top of their own fingernails by using glue. The artificial fingernails will remain in place for approximately 7 to 10 days, after which they are intended to be discarded .

The Committee suggests 2009.89 for Coconut Water as:

Coconut water obtained from green coconuts (99.95 %) with added sugar of 0.05 % (to control taste between different batches of coconuts). The water is naturally coconut flavoured. The water is bottled in 290 ml glass bottles with 24 bottles packed in a carton .

The humble waste collection bin also merited consideration by the august committee which described it as:

Waste collection bin in the form of a bucket, of plastics, with a capacity of 6.5 l. It has a lid, with an opening consisting of strips of plastics through which the waste is thrown, and a handle. This article is intended for the collection of sharp hospital waste (needles, syringes, scalpels, etc.) .

And classified it under 3924.90.

These decisions are to be implemented by the Member Countries. Maybe India will do it in the next budget.

Let's go for Dinner

PRESIDENT of Mexico driving Prime Minister Modi for a Mexican Vegetarian dinner

Until Monday with more DDT

Have a nice weekend.

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