Govt. of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Excise & Customs
15th February, 2016
To
All Principal Chief Commissioners/ Chief Commissioners of Central Excise,
Customs & Service Tax,
All Principal Chief Commissioners/Chief Commissioners of Customs,
All Principal Chief Commissioners/Chief Commissioners of LTU.
Sir,
Sub: Practice of issuance of Procurement Certificate (P.C) and
obtaining countersignature of Jurisdictional AC/DC.
The duty free imports by EOUs are governed by
Notification No.52/2003-Cus
dated 31.03.2003 as amended. The authority to issue the Procurement certificate
(PC), allowing such duty free imports, has been delegated to the Superintendent
in charge by the Board, vide
Circular No.84/2001-Cus dated 21-12-2001 and
further relaxed by allowing issue of pre-authenticated PCs by the
Superintendents, vide
Circular No.17/2006-Cus dated 1.6.2006
to the units
satisfying the criteria specified therein.
2. It has been brought to the notice of the Board by EOU/STPI/EHTP units that
some field formations are still following the practice of countersignature of
PCs by AC/DC, which is at variance with the instructions by the Board. Further,
the countersignature by AC/DC is only adding one more level officer to the
procedure specified and is adversely affecting ease of doing business.
3. The said problem has already been addressed vide
Circular No.84/2001-Cus
dated 21-12-2001 and
Circular No.17/2006-Cus dated 1.6.2006
read with DGEP
circular no 19/2015 cus dated 9/6/2015. However for ease of field formations,
the Board’s instructions on the issue are reiterated as follows:-
- In order to mitigate the difficulties of the units it has been
decided that henceforth the procurement certificates to the EOUs and units
in EPZ/STP/ETHP/SEZ except for those in textile and chemical sectors would
be issued by the jurisdictional Superintendent of Customs or Central Excise.
However, in respect of units in chemical and textile sector the procurement
certificate would continue to be issued by the jurisdictional
Assistant/Deputy Commissioner of Customs or Central Excise. The
jurisdictional Superintendent before issue of procurement certificate would
ensure that the consignment under clearance is covered by the Bond amount.
- EOUs having a status holder certificate under the Foreign Trade Policy
shall be eligible for the Fast Track Clearance Procedure under para 6.39
(Now para 6.40) of Hand Book of Procedure (HBP). To give effect to the
provisions under para 6.39.3 (now para 6.40 (c)) of HBP, the Board has
decided to extend the facility of importing goods without payment of duty on
the basis of pre-authenticated procurement certificate to the units having
physical export turnover of Rs 10 crores and above in the preceding
financial year and having a clean track record. The request to issue
pre-authenticated procurement certificate will be submitted to the
jurisdictional Asstt./Dy. Commissioner of Customs/Central Excise.
After examination of the request, the Asstt./Dy. Commissioner of
Customs/Central Excise may issue direction to the jurisdictional
Superintendent to issue the pre-authenticated procurement certificate to the
unit in a booklet form with running serial number calendar year wise. These
pre-authenticated PC should not be sent to AC/DC again for their
countersignature. The unit shall ensure that the consignment under clearance
under such pre-authenticated procurement certificate is covered by the Bond
amount under B-17 Bond. The procedure of inbond movement, examination,
bonding and issue of re-warehousing certificate will be followed as usual.
4. Board has desired that these instructions should be strictly followed.
Yours faithfully,
(Dr. Tejpal Singh)
Addl. Dir. General
DGEP/FTP/07/2015
|