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Introduction of New Excise Control Code (ECC) Number based on Permanent
Account Number (PAN) allotted by the Income Tax Department - Instruction
Circular
No. 493 dated 12th November 1999
I
am directed to say that Ministry of Finance, in consultation with the Ministry
of Commerce, has decided that all persons dealing with various regulatory
agencies, such as the Central Excise and Customs Department (including Service
Tax Administration), Income tax Department, Offices of Director General of
Foreign Trade etc. should be identified with reference to a common
identification number. It has been further decided that such common
identification number to be used by various agencies will be based on the
Permanent account Number allotted by the Income Tax Department. A background
note on this matter is enclosed for your information. (See Annexure - I)
In
pursuance of the aforesaid, it has been decided to issue a new series of Excise
Control Code Number (New ECC Number) to all Central Excise assessees and
registered dealers (hereinafter referred to as 'concerned persons�). The
Central Excise assessees and registered dealers shall obtain New ECC Number
before 1.1.2000. Instructions for the allotment of ECC Number to Service tax
assessees will be issued separately. The procedure for allotment of New ECC
Number to concerned persons is specified in Paragraph 3 of this Circular.
2.
Components of New ECC Number
The
New ECC number will be alphanumeric. The first part would be the 10-Character
PAN issued by Income-tax authorities to that concerned person to whom the New
ECC Number is to be allotted. The second part would comprise of a fixed
2-Character alpha-code, which will be as follows:
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Category
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Code
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(1)
Central Excise manufacturers (Including registered warehouses)
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XM
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(2)
Registered Dealers
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XD
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This
will be followed by 3-Character numeric-code - 001, 002, 003...etc. In case, a
manufacturer, registered with the Central Excise Department, has only one
factory/dealer's premise/warehouse, the last three characters will be
"001". If there are more than one factories/warehouses/dealer's
premises of such a person having common PAN for all such factories / warehouses
/ dealer's premises, the last 3 character of the new ECC would be "001,
002, 003...etc.
Examples
(1)
Where the concerned person has only one factory:
New
ECC Number will be - PAN + XM + 001
Suppose
PAN is ABCDE1234H, the New ECC Number will be -
ABCDE1234H
XM 001
(2)
Where the concerned person has more than one factory say 3 factories,
having PAN as aforesaid, then the New ECC Number will be:
ABCDE1234H XM
001
ABCDE1234H XM
002
ABCDE1234H XM
003
(3)
Where the concerned person has one factory and is also registered as
dealer, having PAN as aforesaid, them the New ECC Number will be:
ABCDE1234H XM 001
(for Factory)
ABCDE1234H XD 001
(for Dealer)
Since
each factory will be applying for allotment of New ECC Number, a centralised
allotment will be done at the level of Division (where all the factories fall
within the jurisdiction of the same Division) or at the level of Commissionerate
(where all the factories fall within the jurisdiction of the same
Commissionerate) or at the level of Director General of Inspection, Customs
& Central Excise, New Delhi (where the factories fall within the
jurisdiction of different Commissionerates). The same principle will be applied
to the allotment of New ECC Number to Dealers.
3.
Procedure for allotment of New ECC
(1)
Every concerned person shall be required to obtain a New ECC Number.
(2)
They shall apply in the form (in duplicate) given in Annexure-II to this
Circular along with a certified copy of PAN (letter/card issued by the Income
tax Department), to the Jurisdictional Range Superintendent of Central Excise
and obtain a dated acknowledgement. An entry should be made in a register
(serially numbered) indicating name of the concerned person, address, Range and
the existing ECC Number and date of forwarding of application, New ECC Number
(to be filled when allotted). The Entry Number (Receipt Number) should be
endorsed on the Acknowledgement Slip.
(3)
A Special Counter will be opened in each of the Ranges for receipt of the
application. The acknowledgement will be given immediately.
(4)
All applications will be forwarded to Divisional Office. A Special Cell
will be constituted in each Division to process the papers immediately. Where
the applications are complete in all respects and there is only one factory of
the PAN-holder or more than one factory within the jurisdiction of the said
Division, New ECC Number will be allotted within 3 working days and the letter
will be issued by the Assistant/Deputy Commissioner to the concerned persons
(applicants) in the form given in Annexure -III. One copy of the letter will
also be forwarded to the concerned Pay & Accounts Officer (PAO).
(5)
Where there are more than one factories of the PAN-holder falling outside
the jurisdiction of a Division, all such applications will be forwarded to the
Commissionerates Headquarters within 3 working days of the receipt of the
application from the Range Office.
(6)
A Cell will be constituted in the Headquarters, as well to process the
applications. Where all the factories fall within the jurisdiction of the
Commissionerate, the New ECC Number will be issued by the Commissionerate and
initiated to the concerned persons (applicants) individually and the copies will
be forwarded to the concerned PAO, in the format given in Annexure-III. Where
the factories of the PAN-holder fall in the jurisdiction of different
Commissionerates, the applications will be sent by the Commissioner to the
Director General of Inspection, New Delhi within 3 working days of the receipt
from the Division Office.
(7)
DGI will also constitute a Special cell to process such applications. The
New ECC Number will be allotted by DGI and initiated to the concerned persons in
the format given in Annexure-III. The copies of these letters will also be
forwarded to the concerned PAO.
4.
National Informatics Centre (NIC) has been asked to develop suitable
software as a part of "SERMON" package to capture the details of
Annexure-II in the System and also to generate Annexure-III letter
electronically. Separate instructions will be issued in this regard. For the
time being, the manual exercise of processing of applications received should
commence immediately. Once this operation is automated/data entered in
computers, the Directory of New ECC Number and its updates should be provided to
the concerned Pay & Accounts Officer (PAO) in electronic form
(Floppies/Tapes/CDs), in addition to the individual intimations in the manner
specified in Paragraph 3 of this Circular.
5.
A database should be created in each Division on the basis of these
applications. It is proposed that more information relating to each assessee
will be added in order to have comprehensive assessees' profile and to
facilitate cross-referencing.
6.
In this regard, it is mentioned that it shall be compulsory for all the
Central Excise assessees and dealers registered under the Central Excise Rules,
1944 to obtain PAN whether or not they pay Income tax. The Income Tax Department
has already been requested to allot PAN on priority basis to all Central Excise
assessees and Registered Dealers.
7.
It is further mentioned that the New ECC Number will be introduced w.e.f.
1.1.2000. However, the existing ECC Number will continue to be mentioned in all
the excise documents which specify/prescribe for mentioning of ECC Number,
including the TR-6 Challans. However, from 1.4.2000, only the New ECC Number
will be used.
8.
In the said application, the Location Code is to be filled in by the
Range Office. After re-organisation of Commissionerates, the Directorate of
Statistics & Intelligence has already allocated revised location six digits
Codes to all Range Offices.
9.
The process for allotment of the New ECC Code should be started
immediately. It should be taken up as a Special Drive by the field formations
and the work should be completed latest by 15th December 1999. For this purpose,
the Commissioners should interact with the field officers and the assessees so
that the applications are received expeditiously and processed under the
supervision of senior officers. The work should be monitored by the Commissioner
on weekly-basis. Apart from issuing trade notice, wide publicity should be given
in the local newspapers, including publishing the format of the application and
the guidelines. The publicity material/trade notice should also indicate the
time frame for the submission of the application, its processing and delivery of
new ECC Number to assessees. The Commissioner will ensure that this work is
completed by the schedule time. The Director General of Inspection (DGI) will
also monitor the progress on weekly-basis and issue necessary directions so that
the specified schedule is strictly adhered to.
10.
Each Commissioner will report to the Director general of Inspection, New
Delhi by 20th December 1999 about completion of this work. DGI will send a
report to the Board by 27th December 1999, which will also include the status of
allotment of New ECC Number by the DGICCE.
11.
The Principal Chief Controller of Accounts under Central Board of Excise
& Customs will take immediate measures to develop suitable software for
Central Excise revenue according in consultation with NIC.
12.
Receipt of this Circular may please be acknowledged.
13.
Hindi version will follow.
ANNEXURE
- I
Background
Note on a Common Business Identifier for Importers/ Exporters, Central
Excise assessees, Income-tax assessees, etc
Presently,
different agencies of the Government use separate number for identification of
individuals and businesses in relation to the activities concerning the
agencies. The Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) allocates Importer
Exporter Code No. (TEC No.) for identifying importers and exporters; the
Income-tax Department issues the Permanent Account Number (PAN) for all Income
tax, Wealth tax assessees; the Central Excise Department is also registering the
various manufacturers and allocating a separate series of registration numbers.
The RBI separately used to allocate a CNX number for identification of the
exporters.
The
main objective of allocating an alphanumerical number by the Government agencies
is to identify the assessees/ exporters/ importers. It is also used to identify
in some cases the concerned office where the person would be assessed or
registered. Further an alphanumeric number helps in processing of the
information relation to the assessee on computers.
A
working Group comprising officers of the different Departments had examined the
feasibility of adopting a Common Identifier by the various agencies. It was
observed that the assessee will be considerably benefited if he has to obtain
just one identification number for use by the various Government agencies. With
the increasing import and export activity and universal extension of Modvat, it
has become necessary to develop; linkages between export transactions, the
manufacturing activity and the export transactions. Besides, maintaining a
complete profile of a person concerned, wherein the records of his conduct with
any of the Government Departments could be ascertained, such a linkage can help
in verification of availment of Modvat, excise rebate on exports etc. Such a
measure would be particularly helpful in introducing selective risk based
assessment of import/export transactions instead of verification of each and
every shipping bill and bill of entry. A common identifier would immediately
help obtain an overall assessment of the assessee�s credentials with different
Government agencies. Various Government Departments are presently the DGFT, the
Income tax and the Customs and Excise Departments are presently engaged in
computerisation of their operations. There is need to share information from the
computers of one of the Departments with the other Departments. This exchange of
information will be made easier if there are common identification numbers.
It
has been decided to adopt the Permanent Account Number issued by the Income-tax
Department as the basis for the Common Identifier. PAN is a 10-digits
alphanumeric code and can identify upto 96 crores business entities. Apart from
being unique (PAN is issued centrally and is generated by the computer system),
it has the widest application (more than 2 crores assesses as against about 3
lakhs importers exporters using IE Codes and about 1.2 lakhs Central Excise
assessees using ECC Number). Further, since it is not dependent on the location
of the office of registration, it ill not gets modified on account of re-organisation
of jurisdiction of the concerned Department/Offices.
As
per the decision of the Government, PAN will be the only identifier for
cross-referencing with the other Departments though each Department is free to
use any internal codes which it may consider necessary.
ANNEXURE-II
(In
duplicate to be filed in the Jurisdictional Range Office)
FORMAT
FOR APPLICATION FOR OBTAINING NEW EXCISE CONTROL CODE NUMBER
(Manufacturers/
Registered Dealers/ Warehouses)
To
The
Deputy/ Assistant Commissioner,
(Address
of the Division)
Regarding
allotment of New Excise Control Code Number
Sir,
I/We
may kindly be allotted New Excise Control Code Number (New ECC Number) for which
the details are as under:
FORMAT
FOR THE DETAILS (All entries shall be in BLOCK letters)
Name
of the Applicant (s):
Permanent
Account Number:
(Issued
by the Income Tax Department) (Attested copy to be enclosed)
Applicant's
Factory/ Warehouse/ Registered Dealer's Premise (strike whichever is not
applicable):
Existing
ECC Number:
Registration
Number:
Address:
Telephone Nos.:
Fax
Nos.:
E-mail
Address:
Range
Division Commissionerate Location Code (6 digit - To be filled
by the Range Office):
OTHER*
Factories/ Warehouses/ Registered Dealer's Premises (strike whichever is are not
applicable)
*[Each
of these Factories/ Warehouses/ Registered Dealer's Premises have to apply
individually in their own jurisdictional Range Office (s)]
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Sl.
No.
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Name
and address
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Whether
factory or warehouse or Dealer
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Existing
ECC No.
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Registration
No.
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Tel.
No (s).
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Fax
No.
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E-Mail
No.
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Range
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Division
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Commissionerate
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[Please
furnish the aforesaid information for each of the other such factory (ies) /
warehouse (s) / dealer's premise (s)]
I/We
hereby certify that the information given in this form is true, correct and
complete in every respect and that I am authorised to sign on behalf of the
applicant.
Date:
(Signature of the authorised person)
Place:
Note:
Factories, registered dealers depots or warehouses shall as separate
application, as the case may be, for allotment of New ECC number Location Code
is to be filled by the Range Office based on the new codes allotted by the
Directorate of S & I. Telephone numbers/ Fax Numbers/ E-mail address are
to be filled if available.
ANNEXURE
- III
Address
of the Central Excise Office
To,
(Name
and address of the Applicant)
Allotment
of New Excise Control Code Number Application Receipt No.________
dated______________
Sir/
Madam,
1.
In place of your existing ECC Number, the New ECC Number is:
OR
Your
New ECC Number is:
2.
The Location Code concerning your factory/ warehouse/registered dealer's
premise is:
3.
You are advised to deposit Central Excise duties and other related
Government dues in any of the authorised branches of the nominated banks, i.e.:
4.
You are requested to use the New ECC Number along with the existing ECC
Number (if any) with effect from 1.1.2000 till 31.3.2000 on the requisite
documents/ records. The New ECC Number shall be exclusively used with effect
from 1.4.2000.
Signature
of the Deputy/ Assistant Commissioner of Central Excise Or Deputy/ Assistant
Director, DGICCE With official seal________
Date:
Place:
Acknowledgement
Regarding
allotment of New Excise Control Code Number
Your
application for allotment of New ECC number received on is hereby acknowledged.
The Receipt number is dated.
(Signature
of Sector Officer) with Official Seal
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