Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Excise and Customs
Circular No. 24 /2015- Customs
New Delhi, Dated: 14.10.2015
To
All Chief Commissioner of Customs / Customs (Preventive)
All Chief Commissioners of Customs and Central Excise
All Commissioners of Customs
All Commissioners of Customs and Central Excise
Sir / Madam,
Subject: Improving Ease of Doing Business Issuance of Electronic Delivery Orders
-regarding
As part of Government's initiatives for improving Ease of Doing Business,
several facilitation measures are being taken by the Central Board of Excise &
Customs. After consultation with stakeholders, it has emerged that introduction
of electronic messaging for issue of Delivery Order instead of a paper based
Delivery Order will result in considerable simplification in the Customs
Clearance process, and can demonstrably reduce transaction costs and time taken
in the clearance of Cargo. The use of electronic Delivery Orders was also
identified at the first Central Customs Clearance Facilitation Commitee meeting
held on 28 July 2015 as an important trade facilitation measure.
- Before Importers or their Customs Brokers are allowed to pick up
their import cargo, they are required to pay the Shipping Line/Airline or
Consol Agent, the freight and Delivery Order Charges (or D.O. charges). Once
these charges are collected, the latter will in turn send to the Custodian
the Delivery Order while also advising the importer or the Customs Broker of
the issuance of the Delivery Order.
- Traditionally, Airline and Shipping Lines have allowed the pick-up of
import cargo by conveying a paper-based Delivery Order in a format
acceptable to the Custodian. The importer or his Customs Broker visits the
counter of the Shipping Line/Airline or Consol Agent, pays the D.O. Charges,
collects a paper copy of the Delivery Order, and hand carries it to the
office of the Custodian. Recently, however, steps have been taken by some
Shipping Lines and Airlines in co-operation with Custodians to provide the
Delivery Order electronically in mutually agreed formats, allowing the
entire process to be completed electronically, without the importer or his
Customs Broker having to visit either office.
- To implement the electronic Delivery Order System, as a prerequisite, the
Custodian should have the technical capability to implement an electronic
messaging system for the receipt of electronic Delivery Order. Shipping
Lines, Airlines and Consol Agents should have the capacity to generate
electronic Delivery Order in the required format.
- Apart from the above prerequisites, it will facilitate trade if Shipping
Lines, Airlines and Consol Agents can adopt a system of electronic invoicing
of all charges along with the facility to conclude the payment process using
e-Payment facilities. It is only then that the importer or his Customs
Broker can avoid the mandatory personal visit to the office/counter of the
Shipping Line/ Airline or Consol Agent.
- The introduction of electronic Delivery Order or electronic Payment of
D.O. Charges do not change any of the current Customs procedures. Besides,
all other procedures followed by the Custodians, i.e., due diligence
involved in the verification of the Delivery Orders, obtaining 'Out of
Charge' from Customs, and issuance of 'Gate Pass', etc will continue.
- In respect of some categories of imports, namely - unaccompanied baggage,
Direct Delivery, and one-time individual importers, the Shipping Line/
Airline may retain manual (i.e. paper copy) of the Delivery Order, if
desired. Further, if for technical reasons, in case of any failure of the
system of electronic transfer of Delivery Order, the concerned Shipping
Line/ Airline or Consol Agent may issue manual Delivery Order, as a purely
temporary measure, in order to avoid any difficulty or delay in clearance of
imported goods.
- It is expected that elimination of hard-copy Delivery Order and
implementation of the proposed online system of Delivery Order would enable
Shipping Lines, Airlines and Consol Agents to issue Delivery Order at the
earliest possible time in the process of unloading of cargo.
- Secure electronic transmission of Delivery Order would enhance the
overall security and transparency of the cargo clearance process. Custodians
and carriers should ensure smooth implementation of this trade-friendly
measure, while ensuring that no difficulty is faced by any importer (or
their authorized representative) in obtaining Delivery Orders or completing
any other formalities for clearance of goods.
- To encourage the implementation of electronic Delivery Order, Chief
Commissioners of Customs may play the role of facilitators with the help of
forums such as the CCFC. Commissioner of Customs, Air Cargo Complex, Sahar,
had adopted a two-stage process to implement the scheme. In the first stage,
a Public Notice was issued inviting members of the Trade to participate in
trials, followed by another Public Notice for the full scale launch. The
relevant Public Notices 05/2015 and 09/2015 may be found on Commissioner of
Customs ACC, Sahars website
http://www.accmumbai.gov.in/aircargo/miscellaneous/pn_2015_16.html# .
- All Customs formations may take necessary steps to bring the
stakeholders together in order to encourage the implementation of electronic
transmission of Delivery Orders.
- Difficulty faced, if any, may be brought to the notice of the Board at
an early date.
F.No. 450/226/2014- Cus IV
Yours faithfully
(A.K.Sapra)
OSD (Customs IV)
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