Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs
Transhipment through India of containerised export cargo of Bangladesh destined for third countries using Riverine and Land routes
3.7. Steps at LCS Hemnagar:
(i) On arrival at Hemnagar, the authorized carrier shall present to the Customs officer a Bill of Transhipment (BoT), in quadruplicate (as specified in Annexure-B) for the Bangladesh export goods intended to be transhipped through India for export to third countries. The unique serial number of OTL for each container shall be declared in the BoT.
(ii) Along with the BoT, the authorized carrier shall also present to the Customs the loading/placement plan of containers on the Barge/Vessel, inter alia, to facilitate the undertaking of preventive checks by the Customs officer.
(iii) The Import Report filed by the authorized carrier shall specify the name of the Port (Kolkata or Haldia) through which the containers are meant to be transhipped, and the name of the destination port of discharge in the third country.
(iv) The Customs officer shall check integrity of OTL on all containers that are accessible in the hold of the Barge/Vessel. If any OTL is found tampered, it shall be replaced with a fresh OTL to be provided by authorized carrier and its unique serial number shall be endorsed on the BoT in amendment of the BoT.
(v) The authorized carrier shall arrange to cover each hold of the Barge/Vessel with heavy-duty tarpaulin duly secured by rope and sealed with RFlD e-seals (as many as necessary), and one Electronic Cargo Tracking System (ECTS) e-seal shall also be affixed for real time tracking of the cargo.
(vi) The Customs offcer shall check integrity of the e-seals put on the tarpaulin and enter their unique serial numbers in the BoT. The Customs officer shall allow transhipment by making endorsement in all four copies of the BoT. He shall retain Original copy for Customs record and handover the Duplicate and Triplicate copies in sealed cover to the Master of the Barge/Vessel for onward submission at the next Customs station (KolkataI/Haldia Port). The Quadruplicate copy shall be returned to the authorized carrier.
(vii) Upon the Barge/Vessel leaving the LCS Hemnagar, the Customs officer at LCS Hemnagar shall immediately transmit legible scanned copy of - (i) BoT as endorsed by him; and (ii) loading/placement plan presented by the authorized carrier, by NIC e-office to -(a) the Commissioner of Customs (Preventive) West Bengal for updating records, and (b) the Commissioner of Customs, in-charge of Kolkata Port or Haldia Port, through where the goods are destined for movement, for purposes of intimating in advance the arrival of the Barge/Vessel, with relevant details.
(viii) The LCS Hemnagar Customs officer shall monitor the movement of the Barge/Vessel (between Hemnagar and Kolkata/Haldia) on ECTS web portal. In the eventuality of the Barge/Vessel not reaching the destination within the estimated time, the Customs officer of LCS Hemnagar shall initiate necessary action with respect to authorized carrier for safeguarding revenue, in addition to any other action required to be taken under the Customs Act 1962 and other relevant laws.
3.8. Steps at Kolkata / Haldia Port:
(i) Upon arrival of goods at the sea port of Kolkata/Haldia, the Master of Barge/Vessel shall present the sealed cover containing the BoT copies (Duplicate and Triplicate) to the Customs officer, who shall check the genuineness of the said copies with the scanned copy received over NIC e-office from LCS Hemnagar.
(ii) The Customs officer shall verify integrity of the RFID seals and the ECTS seal, put on the tarpaulin, with the e-seal reader (for RFID seals) and web portal (for ECTS seal). He shall also verify the serial numbers of e-seals with the details available in the BoT. If the e-seals are found intact and no alert was received of unauthorized unsealing of the ECTS seal, he shall allow unloading of containers from the Barge/Vessel. If any tampering of e-seals or any alert of unauthorized unsealing is noticed or the tarpaulin itself is found to be tampered, all containers in the hold shall be subjected to open and examine 100%.
(iii) Upon unloading from the Barge/Vessel, the Customs officer shall verify availability of all containers declared in the BoT. He shall also verify integrity of all OTLs on each container, without exception, and tally their serial numbers with details available in the BoT:
(a) If any container is found missing, he shall inform the matter to the Customs officer at LCS Hemnagar who will initiate necessary action with regard to the authorized carrier for safeguarding revenue, in addition to any other action required to be taken under the Customs Act 1962 and any other relevant law.
(b) If any OTL is found tampered or missing, the related container(s) shall be subjected to open and examine 100%. During the examination, if the goods are found as per declaration in the BoT, the container shall be allowed for further onward movement. However, if the goods are not found as per the details presented in the BoT, the matter shall be informed to the Customs officer at LCS Hemnagar who will initiate further necessary action under the Customs Act, 1962 and any other relevant laws.
(iv) Thereafter, each container shall be affixed with an ECTS seal under supervision of the Customs officer at Kolkata/Haldia port. Unique identification serial number of ECTS seals shall be filled in both the copies of the BoT (Duplicate and Triplicate). The Customs officer shall verify integrity of the ECTS seals and thereupon allow loading of the containers on the railway train destined to Nhava Sheva or Mundra port, as the case may be.
(v) The Customs officer shall endorse both the copies of the BoT, retain the Duplicate copy for Customs record, and handover the Triplicate copy in sealed cover to the person in-charge of the train for onward submission at the next Customs station. The Customs officer shall also transmit, including for purposes of advance intimation, the legible scanned copy of the BoT endorsed by him, along with relevant details as may be specified by the Commissioner of Custoins Kolkata/Haldia Port, by NIC e-office to the concerned Commissioner of Customs at Nhava Sheva Port or Mundra Port, from where the goods are destined to leave India for the third country.
(vi) During the movement from Kolkata/Haldia to Nhava Sheva/Mundra Port, the Customs officer at the Kolkata/Haldia Port shall monitor the movement on ECTS web portal. If an alert of unauthorized unsealing. tampering etc. is received, the Customs officer shall immediately inform the designated officer at Nhava Sheva/Mundra Customs in respect of the affected containers. Where appropriate, the Customs officer shall also inform the Customs formation nearest to the container location for any possible preventive action.
3.9. Steps at Nhava Sheva / Mundra Port:
(i) Upon arrival at the Nhava Sheva/Mundra Port, the person-in-charge of the railway train shall submit the BoT (Triplicate copy) in sealed cover to the Customs officer, who shall check the ECTS web application for seal integrity of each ECTS seal. If there is no alert regarding unauthorized unsealing, tampering etc., and the e-seal is visually intact, the ECTS seal shall be removed and returned to the person-in-charge of the train or specified representative of authorized carrier.
(ii) Where any alert of unauthorized unsealing, tampering etc. is noticed, or where e-seal is visually found not intact, such container shall be subjected to open and examine 100%. During the examination, if the goods are found as per declaration in the BoT, the container shall be allowed for further onward movement. However, if the goods are not found as per the details presented in the BoT, the matter shall be informed to the Customs officer at LCS Hemnagar who will initiate further necessary action under the Customs Act, 1962 and other relevant laws.
(iii) The Customs officer at Nhava Sheva/Mundra Port shall permit the containers to be loaded on the vessel destined to third country declared in the BoT, and make an endorsement to this effect in the said Bill. Also, the details of Export General Manifest/Departure Manifest shall be recorded on the BoT as well as uploaded on ECTS web application without delay by the Customs officer at Nhava Sheva/Mundra Port upon which a trip report will be generated on the ECTS web application. The Customs officer at Kolkata/Haldia shall view the trip report on the ECTS web application, and also inform the Customs officer at LCS Hemnagar on NIC e-office for crediting/cancelling the bond.
4. The concerned Commissioners of Customs/Customs (Prev) shall also assign a Nodal Officer, not below the rank of Assistant Commissioner/Deputy Commissioner for the purpose of Para 3.4,3.7 (vii) and 3.8 (v) above. The name, designation and contact details of such nominated nodal officers shall be shared.
5. For ensuring secure movement and tracking, the e-seals (RFID and ECTS) used as outlined above, shall be procured by the authorized carrier at its own cost from vendors/service providers. In respect of RFID e-seals, the updated list of vendors (supplying e-seals of requisite specifications) is available with Circular No. 37/2017-Customs dated 20.09.2017 on the CBIC website. In the case of ECTS e-seals, the Director General of Analytics and Risk Management (DGARM) is currently engaged in the exercise of empaneling service providers for supplying e-seals of requisite specifications which is expected to be completed shortly. In the meanwhile, and in absence of any other facility, the authorized carriers have an option to procure ECTS seals from the service provider under the ADB Pilot Program for monitoring traffic-in-transit for Nepal’.
6. The Directorate General of Systems and Data Management shall develop an online module within a specified timeframe to aid this transhipment.
7. On full implementation of SCMTR 2018, relevant aspects, if any, prescribed under the SCMTR, that then have applicability to the movements dealt in this Circular shall apply, and the above procedure may undergo appropriate modification for that purpose.
8. Suitable Public Notice(s) shall be issued by the Kolkata, Mumbai-II and Ahmedabad Customs Zones. These shall also describe the more detailed procedural aspects including those related to reconciling the movement details and documents, local logistics of unloading, holding at the Port and loading etc. These Zones shall consult amongst themselves for effective and smooth implementation of this transhipment procedure. The Zones shall also issue Standing Order for its officers to follow, including for maintaining safety of the cargo during open examination, if any.
9. In the implementation of this Circular, improvements, if any, should be brought to the notice of the Board.
Sd/-
Bullo Mamu, Under Secretary (LC)
(Concluded)