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Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs
Instruction No. 14/2021-Customs
North Block, New Delhi
June 21st, 2021
To
All Principal Chief Commissioner/Chief
Commissioner of Customs/ Customs (Preventive)
All Principal Chief
Commissioner/Chief Commissioner of Central Tax and Customs,
All Principal
Commissioner/Commissioner of Customs /Custom (Preventive),
All Principal
Commissioner/Commissioner of Central Tax and Customs,
Director, CRCL
Subject: – CRCL Module – Forwarding of samples using electronic Test Memo to
CRCL and other Revenue Laboratories – reg.
Sir/Madam,
Kind
attention is invited to Board’s to Circular No. 46/2020-Customs dated
15.10.2020, regarding the testing of samples by Central Revenues Control
Laboratory (CRCL) and other Revenue Laboratories.
2. As detailed in the
said circular, CRCL and other Revenue Laboratories have been upgraded with
several new, state of the art equipment, thereby enabling the testing of a wider
variety of commodities in lesser time, with greater accuracy. For details, the
CRCL brochure available at crcl.gov.in may be perused. Eight of these
Laboratories, namely, CRCL, New Delhi; CH Laboratory, Kandla; Customs & CX
Laboratory, Vadodara; NCH Laboratory, Mumbai; JNCH Laboratory, Nhava Sheva; CH
Laboratory, Kochi; CH Laboratory, Chennai; and the CH Laboratory, Vizag, have
been accredited by the NABL, as per ISO/IEC 17025:2017 for defined scope of
tests. CRCL, New Delhi and Customs & CX Laboratory, Vadodara have also been,
recently, recognised as FSSAI labs and are, now, mapped with the FSSAI portal.
In locations where FSSAI officers are not posted and customs officers are
drawing samples as per FSSAI requirements, they can also use these two
facilities for testing of food samples.
3. In order to further ease the
testing process, DG Systems has enabled a ‘CRCL module’ in ICES with the
objective of automating all paperwork related to sampling, forwarding of test
memos to CRCL and other Revenue Laboratories, and electronic receipt of test
reports, instantly by the Customs The officials of CRCL and other Revenue
Laboratories have been provided access for both import and export
functionalities in the CRCL module. The CRCL module is also seamlessly
integrated with current modules of ICES. The salient features of the CRCL module
are as follows:
i. Customs Officers will be able to select the CRCL/other
Revenue Laboratory using the ‘Lab Code’ on the basis of directories incorporated
therein and generate a Test Memo for sending a sample to the said laboratory.
ii. The option of recording the drawal of samples by the Shed Examiner is
also provided.
iii. Post physical receipt of sample by the laboratory
concerned, it would be accepted under acknowledgment to the Customs officer and
verified to assess whether the sample is adequate for testing. If the sample is
not considered adequate for testing, a return memo would be sent back to the
Customs officer along with reason for non-acceptance. The grounds for
return/rejection of a test sample could be on account of improper packing,
missing/ tampering with seals, insufficient quantity, non-receipt of requisite
technical documents or nonobservance of other test parameters etc.
iv.
If the sample is in order and is considered adequate for testing, it is
allocated to any one of the Chemical Examiners in the said laboratory.
v.
The date of receipt of the sample at the laboratory is provided in the system.
There is also a provision of a ‘suspend queue’ to indicate reasons for delay or
suspension of testing, for any reason.
vi. Post testing of the sample,
the module provides the facility to enter the respective Import/Export Test
Report in the system.
vii. The Customs Officer at the site would be able
to view the Test Report electronically in ICES and take further action.
viii. Specific MIS reports would enable the monitoring of the pendency and time
taken for sending of the Test Report by the laboratory.
4. As stated
above, the use of the CRCL module is aimed at leveraging technology for bringing
efficiency, transparency and reduction in the cost of compliance for the trade
in regard to the sampling process, which impacts the clearance of import/export
goods. The said module would also help in better monitoring of the sampling
process for faster processing at all the levels.
5. Accordingly, all
field formations are hereby advised to mandatorily make use of the CRCL module
to forward Test Memos for testing of samples to CRCL and other Revenue
Laboratories from 01.07.2021 CRCL and other Revenue Laboratories shall not
accept samples unless the Test Memo has been transmitted electronically on the
CRCL module. In other words, the laboratories will not accept samples based on
paper Test Memos from this date onwards. DG Systems will be separately issuing a
detailed advisory on the use of CRCL module.
6. While the use of the CRCL
module is being made mandatory with effect from 01.07.2021, in case of any
unforeseen systems issue/glitch that prevents the use of the said module, the
sample can be accepted based on paper Test Memo, provided this is sent with the
due approval of the Additional/ Joint Commissioner of Customs of the concerned
field formation. This relaxation is being made so as not to hold up any
clearance of import/export goods, in the event of a rare circumstance.
7.
Difficulties, if any, in implementation of this instruction may be brought to
the notice of the
8. Hindi version follows.
Yours faithfully
F. No. 401/243/2016-Cus III
(Manish Kumar Choudhary)
OSD(Customs)
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