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Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Excise & Customs
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Circular No. 26/2016-Customs
New Delhi, dated 9th June 2016
To,
All Principal Chief Commissioners Customs,
All Principal Chief Commissioners of Customs & Central Excise,
All Chief Commissioners of Customs,
All Chief Commissioners of Customs & Central Excise,
All Directors General, Chief Departmental Representative,
All Principal Commissioners of Customs,
All Principal Commissioners of Customs & Central Excise,
All Commissioners of Customs,
All Commissioners of Customs & Central Excise.
Sub: – Form of application for a Licence under Public Warehousing
Licensing Regulations, 2016 / Private Warehousing Regulations, 2016 / Special
Warehousing Regulations, 2016.
Sir / Madam,
Upon the notification of Public Warehousing Licensing Regulations, 2016 /
Private Warehouse Licensing Regulations, 2016 / Special Warehouse Licensing
Regulations, 2016, a need has been felt 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 (annexed) to be
used by an applicant seeking a licence for a bonded warehouse.
2. 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 provided in the Regulations for
licensing of warehouses or the Warehouse (Custody & Handling) Regulations, 2016.
3. The form has been designed in a manner so as to also serve as a check list
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
(serial no. 7 & 8 of Part II of the form refers). 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.
3.1 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 15 days.
4.1 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.
5. After completion of the process envisaged under the first Para of regulation
4 of the Licensing Regulations, the applicant should be intimated regarding a
decision to grant him a license or not. Upon being intimated that it is proposed
to license the warehouse, the applicant shall provide the documents and complete
the process under Regulation 4(a) to (d). Thereafter, the Principal Commissioner
/ Commissioner shall grant the license for the warehouse.
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. In case of licenses issued earlier to the notification of Licensing
Regulations on 14th May 2016, the requirement of annual renewal is dispensed.
All warehouses appointed under the erstwhile section 57 or licensed under
erstwhile section 58 shall be deemed to remain valid till their surrender /
cancellation, once the conditions under the new regulations have been complied.
8. 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.
9. Difficulties, if any, in implementation of this procedure may be brought to
the notice of the Board.
10. Hindi version follows.
Yours faithfully,
F. No. 484/30/2016- LC
(Temsunaro Jamir)
Under Secretary to the Govt. of India
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