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I)
INDIAN CUSTOMS EDI GATEWAY (ICEGATE)
ICE gateway which is a set of equipments comprising
hardware, software and networking components which would act as a single
point interface between the Customs Computer Network and the partners
in the Customs community system.
Features:
1.
Enable filing of import / export declarations, manifests over internet
as also through Value Added Networks (VAN).
2. Enable Customs response to importers / exporters etc. by way of assessed
Bills of Entry, Shipping Bills etc.
3. Ensure security for the Customs computer Network.
4. Enable exchange of EDI messages with the Customs community partners
for clearance of cargo.
5. Enable centralized management of all IT resources of the Customs and
Excise department.
6. Make available updated directories (rates of duties, exchange rates,
duty drawback rates, DEPB rates etc. ) to all the Customs community partners.
7. Facility of accepting messages from the community partners in flat
files or in UNEDIFACT or other international standards.
8. Enable filing of the declarations in any form i.e. either as email
or through web forms or through file transfer or through VANs.
9. Provide for non repudiation of the declarations filed by a system of
digital signatures allocated by Customs acting as a Certification Authority
under the IT Act, 2000.
10. Provide multiple security layers in the form of firewalls, intrusion
detection system, proxy servers etc.
Objectives:
1. Single point access to Customs / Excise.
2. Enable secure transactions over VAN / Internet.
3. Centralised Security Monitoring .
4. Network of Customs nodes
5. Provide regulated Internet access
II) ACCELERATED CUSTOMS CLEARANCE PROCEDURE
(ACCP)
The most important challenge presented by the rapidly
growing complexity and volumes of international trade to Customs administrations
all over the world is how to strike an appropriate balance between the
competing and equally important considerations of trade facilitation and
effective enforcement of prohibitions/restrictions and collection of Customs
revenues. To meet this challenge, most modern Customs administrations
have moved away from the traditional pattern of examining all consignments
and assessing and collecting duty thereon prior to allowing Customs clearance.
The mechanisms of control applied by them involve risk management based
solutions comprising combination of self-assessment, selective examination
of goods and post-clearance audits for identified categories of importers.
These mechanisms ensure that there is no hold up of goods in the course
of Customs processing while protecting the revenue from risk.
The ACCP would be in addition to the System Appraisal currently available.
Importers who meet certain pre-defined criteria would be eligible for
the procedure and it would apply to all imports effected by such importers.
The criteria for selection of importers would primarily be the following:
1) Established importers. The scheme should apply to imports who are already
established and have been importing for a reasonable period.
2) A proven record of compliance. For being eligible for ACCP, the importer
must have clean track record. In considering this, note will be taken
not only of the record of compliance with the Customs and Excise laws
but also with other fiscal statutes.
3) A minimum volume of business. This could be measured in terms of annual
turnover payment of Customs duties and a certain minimum number of bills
of entry filed in a given period.
4) A reliable system of internal control and accountability. This would
call for an assessment of the reliability of the internal accounting mechanisms
of the concerned firms. Firms with systems which conform to recognized
accounting standards should be good candidates for ACCP. So should those
who have implemented ERP solutions.
III) CUSTOMS DATA WAREHOUSING:
The Indian Customs - India's Central Organisation has
initiated the process of an Assessment Study to examine the issues related
to the implementation of a Central Data Warehouse System (CDW) - a data
warehouse solution dEDIcated to provide users with instant access to a
Central Warehouse containing integrated information from wide-ranging
sources available within the Organisation. The proposed integrated data
warehouse system should provide the top management, executives at both
the operational and policymaking level, analysts and researchers access
to a repository of clean and consistent data - both historical and current.
INDIAN CUSTOMS has initiated an assessment study to evaluate the highly
challenging task of implementing a Data Warehouse solution to source data
from heterogeneous sources, clean, filter and transform the same and store
in a structure that is easy to access, understand and used by the business
users in the terminology they are comfortable with. The proposed project
aims to get all the data available in different parts of the organization
to work together and be stored in a central repository for decision-making
purposes at all levels.
Data
warehousing is currently being used as a strategic tool across thousands
of organization to aid them in their decision making process. The data
warehouse serves as a consolidated source of information, which facilitates
easier, faster, timely and integrated decision making within the organization.
The Indian Customs EDI System (ICES), which is a comprehensive, paperless,
fully automated customs clearance system has been operational at 23 major
customs stations. The system was developed by NIC and has been operational
since 1995.
This OLTP (On Line Transaction Processing) system helps in improving the
operational efficiency, but doesn't provide enough support to aid the
decision-makers. The reports generated are mostly periodic status reports
and are static.
The proposed Central Data warehouse on the other hand, will enable the
user to analyse the data as well as design and generate the reports as
per his/ her requirements and that also within a short time. This data
warehouse will also assist the Customs in curbing the frauds through real-time
and efficient use of Risk Profiling.
The
Key Benefits of the proposed data warehouse to the Indian Customs can
be described as:-
1)
Valuation - The proposed data warehouse will
be able to consolidate the information needed valuation of commodities
in a central data store and through the use of internet enabled application
will assist the officers across field formation in quick and online access
to data for the past 3 months.
2) Risk Profiling -
The proposed CDW, envisages setting up of a Risk Profiler so that on the
basis of key parameters, the system can assign the risk associated with
the clearance of that particular consignment on without any need of examination.
Not only will this assist the officers in catching the defaulters, but
also assist in faster clearance of consignments, which do not need any
checking.
3) Policy Making -
Since the proposed data warehouse will present a consolidated, historical
view of the data in real time (next day) and online manner (internet enabled
application), this will help the policy makers in arriving at more informed
decisions. Currently, most of the statistics collected take huge lead
times to arrive.
4) Statistical / trend analysis
- Proposed system through the use of historical information
as well as statistical capabilities of the tool, provide the statistical
/ trend information on the click of a button in a real time environment.
5) Trade Analysis - Proposed
CDW, through the use of OLAP tools will also be able to provide multi-dimensional
analysis across various dimensions such as Items, Countries, Importer
/ Exporter, Ports as well as suppliers, CHAs etc.
6) Ad-hoc Querying and reporting
- The proposed CDW will include applications which will
provide the business user interface to the data helping the user in querying
data or creating / customizing reports according to his or her own needs.
In this context inputs have been taken from various field formations as
well as external and internal agencies about their information needs.
These inputs have been taken into consideration for determining the structure
of the proposed decision support system.
IV)
National Import Data Base(NIDB)
Introduction
:
The National Import Data Base (NIDB) Project was conceived in a meeting
taken by
Secretary (Revenue) at New Delhi on 22nd August, 2001. The Chairman (CBE&C),
Member (Customs), Member (L&J), JS (Customs) and Commissioner (Valuation)
were present. It was agreed in the said meeting that import data from
all Customs Stations in the country should be captured and transmitted
to a Central Server in the Directorate of Valuation on a daily basis and
the same should be consolidated, analysed and a feed back should be generated
and sent to the Commissioners / Customs Stations indicating import values
accepted at all customs stations along with averages, outliers and international
prices. It was also agreed to use the existing EDI systems and V-SATs
at several locations to extract and transmit import data taking the help
of the Systems Directorate and NIC. The time limit for execution of the
project was specified as 60 days. It was further decided to use e-mail
facility for obtaining and sending data to customs stations which are
not linked by V-SAT.
Objectives
:
The objectives of the NIDB project are :-
1.
To collect essential details of import data from all Customs Stations
whether the same is available in a computerized or manual format at the
6 digit ITC (HS) code level and to forward the import data to the Directorate
of Valuation.
2.
Transmit the consolidated daily import data of each customs station to
a Central Server at the Directorate of Valuation through available means
of communication including V-SAT dEDIcated lines and e-mail, where such
import data would be combined and merged into a National Import Database.
3.
Analysis of the all India import data using the Expert Systems Software
under development by NCST and sending an electronic feedback to the Commissioners
/ Customs Stations. The feedback will contain the assessed value accepted
at other customs stations, averages, outliers as well as international
prices available from sources such as Reuters, international publications
and sources abroad.
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