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Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Anti-Smuggling Unit (CBIC)
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Circular No.
06/2021-Customs
Room No. 501, 5th Floor, Hudco Vishala Building,
R.K. Puram, New Delhi. Dated 22.02.2021
To,
All Principal Chief/Chief
Commissioners of Customs,
All Principal Chief/Chief Commissioners of
Customs(P),
All Principal Chief/Chief Commissioners of Customs & CGST,
Webmaster, CBIC.
Madam/ Sir,
Subject: Policy and Guidelines for
setting up of Inland Container Depots (ICDs), Container Freight Stations (CFSs)
and Air Freight Stations (AFSs)-Reg.
The Board had issued new set of
policy and guidelines for setting up of ICDs/CFSs/AFSs vide Circular No.
50/2020-Customs dated 05.11.2020. The said circular laid down various criterion
for new approvals, applications and procedures for approval, post approval
obligation, regulatory 86 other compliances, and performance monitoring etc.
Post issuance of the Circular, the Inter -Ministerial Committee (IMC) was
further reconstituted vide Board’s order dated 18.01.2021.
2. Para 5.1.5
of the said circular states that the IMC meeting will be held twice a year. It
also prescribed that the jurisdictional Commissioners of Customs and the Members
of IMC will furnish their comments/recommendations on the applications received
in this regard within 30 days. However, there was no cut-off date prescribed for
submitting the applications and there were instances where applications were
received just prior to the IMC meeting. Late submission of application poses two
challenges. Firstly, there is no sufficient time for the jurisdictional
Commissioners and IMC Members to examine the applications and to furnish their
comments on the same. Secondly, if an application is not placed in time before
the scheduled IMC meeting, the applicant needs to wait for another 06 months for
the next IMC meeting which in turn hampers the investment activities of the
stakeholders particularly in the logistics sector.
3. Further, on
scrutiny of the applications and the comments/ recommendations as forwarded by
the jurisdictional Commissioners, it has been noticed that there is no objective
evaluation of the proposal and many a times the recommendation of the
jurisdictional Commissioner does not provide a holistic picture of the
feasibility of the proposal. Accordingly, it is felt that there is a need for
structured reporting system which will not only minimize the ambiguity but may
also help in automation and online processing in the future.
4.
Accordingly, the following further guidelines are being prescribed:
i.
The IMC meeting would be held on quarterly basis as per the following schedule-
| Quarter |
Cut-off date for receipt of
application |
Receipt of comments from IMC and
Customs formations |
Date of issuance of Meeting Notice |
Date of
Meeting |
| January-
March |
By 30th of preceding November |
By 20th of preceding December |
By 25th of preceding December |
2nd Tuesday of January |
| April-June |
By 28th of preceding February |
By 20th of preceding March |
By 25th of preceding March |
2nd Tuesday of April |
| July- September |
By 31st of preceding
May |
By 20th preceding June |
By 25th of preceding June |
2nd Tuesday of July |
| October-
December |
By 31st of preceding August |
By 20th of preceding September |
By 25th of preceding September |
2nd Tuesday of October |
(in case the 02nd Tuesday of the respective month
is a holiday, the next working day will be considered as date of IMC meeting)
ii. All the jurisdictional Principal Commissioners/Commissioners may forward
their comments/recommendations on the application for setting of ICDs/CFSs/AFSs
as per Annexure-A within the time as stipulated above.
5. The above
amendment may be circulated amongst the stakeholders and public at large and the
field formations may suitably be sensitized.
6. In the Circular No.
50/2020-Customs dated 05.11.2020, any aspect which is inconsistent with this
circular shall be brought to notice for suitable modification. In case of a
conflict, the provisions of this circular will prevail.
7. Any
difficulties in the implementation of these guidelines may be brought to the
notice of the Board immediately.
Yours faithfully,
(Sharad Srivastava)
F. No. 394/29/2020-Cus (AS)
Director (Anti-Smuggling)
Tel. No.
011-26177519
Telefax-26177-328/572/543
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