Customs Circular No.19 regarding paperless Customs

Ref.No.: GJEPC/Custom Circular/2020-21

15th April, 2020 To, All Members of the Council Dear Member(s), Sub: Customs Circular No. 19/2020-Customs dated 13th April, 2020 To reduce interface between the Customs authorities and the importers / exporters / Customs Brokers the Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs has issued Circular No. 19/2020- Customs dated 13th April, 2020. Board has now decided to enable electronic communication of PDF based Final electronic Out of Charge copy of BoE and e Gate pass to the importers/Customs Brokers. This electronic communication would reduce interface between the Customs authorities and the importers/Customs Brokers and also do away with the requirement of taking bulky printouts from the Service Centre or maintenance of voluminous physical dockets in the Customs Houses. The Final eOoC copy of BoE and e Gate pass copy will be emailed to the concerned Customs Broker and/or importer, if registered, once the Out of Charge is granted. The e Gate pass copy will be used by the Gate Officer or the Custodian to allow physical exit of the imported goods from the Customs area. These measures are effective from 15th April, 2020.
2. The salient features of the secure electronic communication of the Final e O o C copy of BoE and the e Gate pass are as follows: I. Final Out of Charge (e O o C) Copy of Bill of Entry: As of now, physical signing of the Final O o C copy of BoE is insisted upon at many Customs locations. This necessitates the importer/Customs Broker to take a paper printout from the Service Centre to be produced before the Customs officer. It has now been decided to do away with the paper printout of the Final O o C copy of BoE. Instead, DG Systems will enable a functionality to immediately email the PDF version of the Final eOoC copy of BoE generated after O o C to the Customs Broker and/or the importer, if registered. This Final e O o C copy of BoE will have the following features-
(i) The PDF version will bear a digitally signed and encrypted QR code which can be scanned to verify the authenticity of the document using Mobile App ICETRAK. The QR code is tamper proof, which is digitally signed by CBIC to ensure the authenticity. Key details like BoE No., BoE Date, Duty and Package Details are available in the secured QR Code. (ii) A version number is also embedded in the QR code which can be used to ascertain whether the document is indeed the latest version (in case of reassessment etc.). The same would be verifiable at ICEGATE Enquiry.
II. e Gate pass Currently, the physically signed Final O o C copy of BoE is being verified both by the Gate officer (Customs) as well as the Custodian before allowing the actual movement of the imported goods out of the Customs premises. This physical printout is now being replaced by the PDF e

Gate pass generated and electronically communicated to the importer/Customs Brokers with the following salient features: (i) e Gate pass shall contain only the details referred to by the Custodian or the Gate officer to allow actual movement of goods – like details of IGM/Bill of Lading, Containers, packages etc.
(ii) There will be two types of QR codes- (a) for entire e Gate pass document and (b) for each container/package covered under the Gate pass. This will ensure that only those containers/package move out which are covered under the Gate pass document.
(iii) EDI O o C message shall continue to be sent to the Custodians who are registered on ICEGATE. Since all the Custodians are not connected to ICEGATE, therefore, EDI O o C message is not being transmitted electronically to such Custodians. Field formations are requested to ensure registration of all such custodians in ICEGATE as per the advisory of DG Systems so that the potential benefits of the new measures could be reaped across the entire Customs ecosystem. 3. The electronic communication of the Final e O o C copy of BoE and e Gate pass copy is expected to bring immense benefits in terms of time and cost of compliance and reduction in interface for the trade, while providing enhanced security features for verification of authenticity and validity of the electronic documents. 4. A copy of Customs Circular No. 19/2020 dated 24-7-2019 is available at the Council web site and the same can be downloaded by the members for further details. In case of any further clarifications and compliance issues you may contact the Council. Thanking you, With best regards, Sd/-

SABYASACHI RAY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Encl: click here to download the Customs Circular No.19