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Open House Meeting held on 19-03-2003
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OFFICE
OF THE CHIEF COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS,
MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE CHIEF COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS, MUMBAI ZONE-I, HELD WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF THE BCHAA & MANSA, TRADE AND INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION ON 19.03.2003 AT 5.00p.m. IN THE CONFERENCE HALL OF MUMBAI CUSTOMS HOUSE. The meeting was held under Shri Subrata Basu, Chief Commissioner of Customs, Mumbai Zone – I, on 19th March, 2003 in the Conference Hall, 2nd flr., New Custom House, Ballard Estate, Mumbai to sort out the problems faced between the Importers/Exporters and the Steamer Agents. The following officers were present: 1.
Shri K.K. Agarwal, Commissioner of Customs (General), Mumbai Custom House. The following representatives of the Mumbai & Nhava Sheva Ship Agent’s Association (MANSA), Bombay Custom House Agent’s Association (BCHAA), Federation of Indian Exporter Organisation (FIEO), All India Importers & Exporters Association (AIIEA), Dyestuff Manufacturer’s Association of India, Bombay Chambers of Commerce & Industries (BCC&I), ASSOCHAM and Synthetic & Rayon Textile Processing Committee (SRTEPC) attended the meeting: 1.
MANSA (Mumbai & Nhava Sheva Ship Agent’s Association) 2.
BCHAA (Bombay Custom House Agent’s Association) 3.
FIEO (Federation of Indian Exporter Organisation) 4.
AIIEA (All India Importers & Exporters Association) 5.
Dyestuff Manufacturer’s Association of India 6.
ASSOCHAM 7. Bombay
Chambers of Commerce & Industries 8.
SRTEPC The Chief Commissioner of Customs, Mumbai Zone – I, welcomed all the members of the MANSA, Trade, Industry and CHAs Association and the officers to the meeting. 2. The representatives of the Bombay Custom House Agent’s Association raised the following points. (a) The representative of Bombay Custom House Agent’s Association stated that in many cases there is delay in filing the IGM by Steamer Agents and in some cases date of filing IGM as informed by them to the importer do not match with the date on which the IGM is registered and hence the B/E filed by the importer mis-match with the IGM and accordingly the same as rejected in the EDI System and this causes delay which leads to demurrage, loss, theft, double working etc. and hence there is urgent need to solve this problem. The representative of the MANSA stated that only after the entry inward is granted to the vessel, the IGM is registered by the Custom House and hence in some cases there is difference of date between date on which IGM is filed by the Steamer Agent and the date on which the IGM is registered by Custom House and hence this problem arises. As against this the concerned Deputy Commissioner of Customs (Imports), Mumbai Custom House stated that after entry inward has been granted to the vessel, the IGM is filed by the Steamer Agent. After deliberations it was concluded that since full facts are not forth coming the issue requires detail examination. Hence it was decided to constitute a Task Force consisting of Shri Ahmed Hussain, Commissioner of Customs (Imports) as its Chairman, Shri.Chandrakant Valvi, Joint Commissioner of Customs (Imports), Shri U.N. Das, Deputy Commissioner of Customs (Imports), representatives of System Directorate to be nominated by ADG (System) Mumbai, Shri P.V. Sudhir, Scientific Engineer of NIC, Capt. Jasbir Singh of MANSA, Shri Nailesh Gandhi and Shri Naval H. Mehta of Bombay Custom House Agent’s Association. The Task Force should go into issue in details and should submit its recommendation both short term and long term within a months time. [ Action : Task Force (Imports) ] (b) The representative of Bombay Custom House Agent’s Association stated that in many case the IGM filed by the Steamer Agents are incomplete. A query was raised if incomplete IGM is generally being filed by some specified Shipping Lines/Steamer Agents or when the goods are received from some specified ports. As no reply was forth coming it was decided that this issue could also be gone into in detail by the Task Force to identify if there are some specified Shipping Lines (informal Shipping Lines)/Steamer Agents who are generally filing incomplete IGM so that the names of such Shipping Lines/Steamer Agents could be brought to the notice of MANSA so as to ensure that these Shipping Lines/Steamer Agents also fall in line in filing complete IGM, as is being done by other Shipping Lines/Steamer Agents. [ Action : Task Force (Imports) ] (c) The representative of Bombay Custom House Agent’s Association stated that in many cases the IGM filed by Steamer Agents do not give correct details of Marks & Nos., Description, Gross and Net Weight and some cases unit of weight indicated in IGM is at variance with unit of weight indicated in the B/L. It was further emphasized that in particular the problem is being faced by the importer in respect of gross and net weight indicated in the IGM vis-à-vis B/L. It was explained that in some cases where the B/L indicate the weight as 2500 Kg., the Steamer Agents indicate the weight in IGM to be 2.5 MT and in such case when the importer files B/E for 2500 Kg. it mis-match with the IGM weight indicated as 2.5 MT and not 2500 Kg. and hence B/E is rejected by way of query memo. The representatives of MANSA stated that the Customs Computer Software should be modified to automatically convert 2500 Kg. to 2.5 MT instead of rejecting such B/E. It was explained to them that modification of Software is done at central level and would therefore take time. It was however decided this issue can be taken up with the System Directorate, Delhi, if MANSA gives a letter to this effect requesting for Software modification. However as a short term solution, it was suggested that MANSA should direct all the Steamer Agents to indicate weight in the IGM in the same unit as indicated in the respective B/L. [ Action : MANSA (Mumbai & Nhava Sheva Ship Agent’s Association) ] d) The representative of Bombay Custom House Agent’s Association stated that from printout taken by them from Mumbai Custom House it is observed that from January, 2003 till today 260 EGMs have not been filed by Steamer Agents even though actual exports have taken place. The representatives of MANSA wanted to go through the list so as to know the reasons for non-filing of these EGMs. However they generally stated that there are number of cases where EGMs are shown as pending because stuffing reports have not been fed into the EDI System. It was therefore decided that a Task Force be constituted consisting of Shri V.K Verma, Joint Commissioner (Export Promotion) as its Chairman, concerned Deputy Commissioner (Export Promotion), Shri Shashi Tanna of Bombay Custom House Agent’s Association, Shri.Nambiar & Capt. Jasbir Singh of MANSA, Shri S. Srinivasa of Dyestuff Manufacturer’s Association of India, Shri P.V. Sudhir Scientific Engineer of NIC to identify the names of the defaulting Steamer Agents who have not filed the EGMs and also names of the defaulting officers who have not fed the stuffing report in the System, which had led to non filing of EGM. The Task Force should submit its report to the Chief Commissioner through the Commissioner of Customs (Export Promotion) within a months time. [ Action : Task Force (Export Promotion) ] 3. In addition to the above points, it was stated from the Department side that even after more than 2 years of issue of Public Notice requesting the importer to file the B/E on floppy, only less than 10% of the B/E is being filed on floppy and therefore more and more importers are to be requested to file the B/E on floppy. The representative of Bombay Custom House Agent’s Association stated that at Air Cargo Complex 40% of the B/Es are filed in floppy as facility of amendment of B/E is available in their service center whereas in Mumbai Custom House no such facility exists and therefore the Agents has to take back the B/E to their office for correction. In addition the weight aspect as indicate above also comes in the way of filing of the B/E on floppy. It was assured by the Bombay Custom House Agent’s Association stated that once these impediments are overcomed, the most of the CHA would prefer to file the B/E in floppy. [ Action : The Commissioner of Customs (General), Bombay Custom House Agent’s Association ] It was further explained from the Department side that sub section (1) of Section 30 of the Customs Act, 1962 is being amended (after passing of the Finance Bill 2003) to provide for delivery of import manifest before arrival of vessel instead of 12 hours after the arrival of the vessel, as existed now and for levy of penalty not exceeding Rs. 50,000/-, if no sufficient cause exists for the delay. The representative of MANSA stated that many problems will be faced by them, if these provisions of the Act are implemented without making consequential amendment. One of such amendment, suggested by them was that besides Mainline operator, the NVO should also be permitted to file the entry in the IGM. It was suggested that if any problem is going to be faced by the Steamer Agents in implementation of the proposed amendment in Section 30(1) of the Customs Act, 1962 which will be come into effect after the passing Finance Bill 2003, they should submit a detail note explaining the position with suggestions and meanwhile should give wide publicity among its members for operationalising this provision once the Bill comes into force. [ Action : MANSA (Mumbai & Nhava Sheva Ship Agent’s Association) ]
Lastly the Chief Commissioner of Customs Mumbai Zone I thanked all the officers and representatives of Bombay Custom House Agent’s Association, Trade & Industry for their co-operation and active participation. (
Deepak Kumar ) Copy
to: Copy for information and wide circulation to : 1.
BCHAA (Bombay Custom House Agent’s Association) |
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