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Trade Facilitation Committee Meeting held on 31-08-06
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OFFICE OF THE COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS (IMPORT)
MINUTES OF THE TRADE FACILITATION COMMITTEE MEETING HELD ON 31.08.2006 UNDER THE CHAIRMANSHIP OF SHRI A.K. PRASAD, COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS (IMPORT) 1. A meeting of the Trade Facilitation Committee was held on 31.08.2006 under the Chairmanship of Shri. A. K. Prasad, Commissioner of Customs (Import). The following Members of the Trade and Port and Bank Officials attended the meeting :-
2. The following officers attended the meeting on behalf of the Department.
3. The Commissioner welcomed all the members present and confirmed the minutes of the earlier meeting held on 27.07.2006. 4. The Commissioner informed that the status of the test report is available on web site of this Custom House. A Facility Notice No. 5/2006 dated 26.07.2006 has been issued for the same. Shri Kiran Rambhia of BCHAA, requested the Commissioner to arrange to incorporate in the said test report status, the details in respect of the date of drawal of sample by Docks Staff and also the date of receiving of the sample in CRCL. Commissioner directed the EDI Section to explore the possibility of inclusion of the date of receipt of sample in CRCL in the test report status.
5. On points regarding difficulties faced by trade due to alleged difficult / impartial practices adopted by Shipping Lines, Commissioner informed that next round of meeting with members of BCHAA, MANSA etc. has been fixed on 19.09.2006 at 15.00 hrs. 6. Regarding refunds of revenue –deposit by the Import Department the Commissioner informed that the refund of RS. 65,000/- pertaining to 25 cases is being finalised. Import department is perusing the matter with M.C.D. for obtain N.O.C. for the remaining refund claims.
7. The issue related to dwell time was discussed in earlier meeting. The Commissioner informed that each segment / component of dwell time has been identified and the reasons are being studied at micro level. The progress in this matter will be informed to the members form time to time.
8. Regarding Out of Charge of Bulk Cargo it was informed by the Commissioner that a survey for ascertaining the workload at different location in MBPT has been carried out by private surveyor. Five locations namely ‘A’ Division office, ‘B’ Division office (BDS12), chemical terminal Trombay (CTTL), Aegis Logistic and ‘B’ Division office (BDS 18) have been identified for providing the terminals. Necessary applications for obtaining the MTNL lease lines have been made.
9. Shri. Naval Mehta of BCHAA in earlier meeting raised the issue regarding number allocated to Custom House Agents after the implementation 10. A request was made by members of trade in earlier meeting that Appraising Officer in the Docks should hand over signed copies of documents to the CHA as originals are surrendered to the out of charge officer in terms of the prevailing instructions and certified copies are required subsequently for e.g. in the case of refund where custom attested invoice and packing list have to be submitted. Commissioner informed that an enquiry in this regard has been made from A.C.C. and J.N.P.T. and it is noticed that in A.C.C., the officers are signing / attesting the invoice and packing list. However in JNPT there is no attestation of invoice or packing list. He further informed that the practice of signing the copy of invoice will continue in Mumbai Customs. 11. Shri Omprakash Agrawal in earlier meeting has raised the issue of allowing the trucks and tankers into the Mumbai Port Trust area without making a proper entry at the gate. This lapse on part of MbPT can be fatal to security in MbPT area. Shri P. D. Rathi, Dy. Manager, Mumbai Port Trust informed that entries of trucks and tankers entering are being made in the system. It is also reported that the delay could have been on the weekends and at certain peak time. To obviate this, an additional computer has now been installed at ‘Out gate’ of New Orange Gate Princess Dock shortly, which will ensure that data is entered timely. 12. Shri Ashish Pednekar of MACCIA ( Maharashtra Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture ) in earlier meeting pointed out that the trucks which are carrying the goods for export after unloading the goods at MbPT are not allowed for loading imported goods until the trucks came out of MbPT physically and again re-enter for the loading of import goods. This is wastage of time as well as fuel and serve no purpose. Shri P. D. Rathi, Dy. Manager, Mumbai Port Trust informed that the facts in this regard have been ascertained and found to be not as alleged. The trucks can load imported goods after unloading the export goods without physically having to go out of the gate and re-enter. 13. The Commissioner informed the members that this Custom House has issued a Facility Notice No. 06/2006 dated 28.08.2006 for clarifying the manner of payment of Custom dues. Cheques made in the name of “Commissioner of Customs A/C(Party’s name )“ would also be honoured, Copy of said Facility Notice was circulated to the members present in the meeting. 14. For facilitating the trade and for smooth functioning, this office has issued Public Notice No. 38/2006 specifing the cases, when a manual bill of entry can be filled with the permission of DC / AC of concerned group and NOC from E.D.I was not required. 15. The Commissioner informed that a study was conducted after implementation of RMS to ascertain the time taken for payment of duty after the assessment of Bill of Entry. It is found that the time for payment of duty after the assessment has increased significantly from 90 hours earlier (before implementation of RMS) to 180 hours after R.M.S. Commissioner requested all trade’s representative to examine the same and try to reduce the time taken for payment of duty. 16. The Commissioner informed that this office is at advance stage for introducing status information in respect of Bills of Entry through “SMS” facility. After introduction of this facility, trade can check the status of their Bill of Entry through S.M.S. There would be around 7 types of status reports. 17. The Commissioner informed that because of poor data quality i.e. not providing complete / correct description, details regarding invoice, model etc., only 40 to 45% of total Bills of Entry are being facilitated in the R. M. S. Commissioner requested all members to furnish the exact and complete details of data at the time of filling of Bill of Entry. 18. Shri Kiran Rambhia of BCHAA raised the issue in respect of transferring Bill of Entry after obtaining the number (Bill of Entry Thoka No.), from Group VII (System noted the Bill of Entry for Group VII) to the respective group in case of “Job Work Bill of Entry”. The Commissioner directed to take the views from all the groups in this matter and decide the same before the next meeting.
19. It was decided that the next meeting would be held on 05.10.2006 at 5.00 p.m. ( NASIM ARSHI ) |
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