PUBLIC NOTICE NO 33/2000

Subject : Revised procedure to be followed for processing of manual Bills of Entry at Calcutta Custom House

All Importers, Custom House Agents and all others concerned are hereby informed that in order to further strengthen the system of processing and clearance of Manual Bills of Entry, the following time frame is prescribed for this Customs House which shall be strictly observed.

Serial No.	Section	Time Limit Prescribed
01.	Import Noting	Three hours
02.	Distribution Clerk of concerned Group	One Hour
03.	Scrutiny/assessment of Bill of Entry by Appraiser	Normally all the Bs/E received in the forenoon session should be assessed the same day & if received in the afternoon, it should be assessed by the next day forenoon.
04.	Concurrent Audit - By Appraiser/A.C. Audit	Two Hours from the time of receipt
05.	D.C./A.C. incharge of Group	One Hour from the time of receipt
06.	A.O. for giving examination order	Thirty minutes
07.	Group Clerk for putting the stamp of date of completion of B/E for interest purpose and delivery of completed B/E to CHA/ Importer	Thirty minutes
08.	Licence Section for debit of Licence, if any	One Hour
09.	Computlist	One Hour
10.	Pin point & typewriting of assessed duty amount on the B/E	One Hour
11.	Duty payment in cash Section & detachment of original copy of B/E and Import documents and returning other copies of B/E to the CHA	Two Hour

2. In this revised procedure. any importer/CHA wishing to submit any document may henceforth bring along an acknowledgement slip in the format annexed herewith as Annexure 'A' to this P.N..

3. The B/E alongwith required documents, as per the checklist annexed in Annexure 'B' will be forwarded to the Appraiser (IMPORT NOTING), who will check the B/E w.r.t. the Check List and the documents submitted. He shall allow noting if found in order and forward the same to the receiving clerk of IMPORT NOTING Deptt. for endorsement in the acknowledgement slip. The said clerk shall then indicate the particulars and specially the time of noting on the acknowledgement slip. In case the documents are not found to be in order, the Appraiser Import Noting shall return the same to the Importer or his authorised CHA with his remarks indicating the nature of discrepancies / non-submission of any documents / any other omission.

4. The Import Deptt., after the completion of the noting of B/E shall arrange for transmission and distribution of Bs/E to the different Group Clerks on an hourly basis through the Import Deptt. Sepoys. The Group clerk will give the receipt of B/E in the Group showing the time of receipt for each B/E and the same will be noted down in the B/E Register maintained in the Group.

5. In this revised procedure the B/E alongwith its related documents shall not be allowed to be handled by the CHA/trade representative/Importer from the stage of completion of noting of Bills of Entry to the stage of delivery of the completed B/E to the CHAs/Importer i.e. between stage 1 & 7 of the aforesaid table. If any CHA/Importer is found to be handling the B/E during these stages of processing, it will be viewed adversely and strict action shall be taken against the persons concerned.

6. Each group will nominate a Sepoy, attached to that group, who will carry the Bills of Entry under process in the groups from Stage No. 1 to 7. He will be responsible for the safe transmission and carrying the B/E alongwith the related papers to the various officers of Group and Audit.

7. In case of first check examination, the order will be given by the Group Appraiser which will be countersigned by the Group A.C./D.C. Thereafter the B/E shall be given to the Group Clerk who will hand over the B/E to CHA/Importer under date/time receipt.
After the first check, the B/E and sample, if any, will be resubmitted to the Group clerk by the CHA/Importer.

8. The completed B/E shall be delivered to the Importer/CHA by the Group Distributor, at stage no. 7.

9. Each and every officer, including the ministerial staff, Appraiser, Auditor, A.C. / Audit, D.C./A.C. incharge of Groups and all other staff, while putting the signature on the B/E, shall clearly state date and time of each signature on each and every B/E. The movement sheet, enclosed with its B/E must be invariably filled, clearly mentioning the date and time of signature.

10. Wherever any information/clarification/documents are required by Assessing Officer, they shall invariably issue a query slip indicating specific reasons therefor. Every query memo shall contain all the requirements/deficiencies/objections required to be completed by the Importer/CHA. Piecemeal queries and objections are to be avoided. Every query slip should be signed by the Appraiser and duly countersigned by the D.C./A.C Group who will also endorse the date and time of signing the query memo. The B/E should not be returned to the Importer/CHA alongwith the query memo; it should be kept in the custody of the concerned Appraiser pending reply to the query memo/objection. However, in case any amendment is warranted on the B/E itself, the Group Appraiser may hand it over to the Group Distributor after recording the same in the query memo. The Group Distributor shall then return the same to the Importer / CHA after obtaining his signature and recording the date and time. The completed/amended B/E should be resubmitted directly to the Group Distributor against an acknowledgement slip. In case the Appraiser/A.C./D.C. Group requires some explanation in person, not more than two persons from the Importer/CHAs side would normally be allowed to discuss the same.

11. After assessment is complete, the Group Distributor shall hand over the assessed B/E to the Importer/CHA after keeping a record of date and time of such delivery and obtaining the signature of Importer/CHA concerned. It shall be the duty of the nominated Group Sepoys to collect the assessed Bs/E and hand them over to the Group Distributor on an hourly basis, who in turn shall deliver the same to the Importer/CHA, also on an hourly basis.

12. The Bill of Entry should be submitted at the collection window in the Accounts Deptt. alongwith the duty amount and the importer/CHA shall collect the remaining copies of the Bills of Entry (after detachment of original Bill of Entry) from the other window of the Accounts Section.

13. In case it is found by the importer/CHA that the time limit prescribed herein is not being adhered to (other than the cases where queries have been raised, first check has been ordered, test report is essential for clearance (for example P.C.B. Certificate) or adjudication proceedings is under way), they should immediately report the same to the concerned Jt./Addl. Commissioner.

14. This revised procedure will be applicable for Bs/E processed on manual mode only.

All the Public Notices issued in this regard, not conforming to this P.N., stand modified to the extent.

All the members of trade are requested to follow the procedure of this Public Notice strictly and cooperate.

                                                                                                                            ( A. K. Raha )
                                                                   Commissioner of Customs (Port)
                                                                          Custom House, Calcutta
F.No.S60-10/2000A(G)
Custom House, Calcutta
Dated : 01.05.2000

We/I __________________________ of ________________________ Company / Clearing Agency hereby submit the following documents at__________________ ________________________________ Cell / Unit / Group for the purpose of _________________________________________________________________ .

                                                                        Signature ________________
                                                                       Name in full______________
                                                                       Date ____________________
                                                                       Stamp

Received by me
                        Signature ___________________
                        Name in Full_________________
                        Designation__________________
                        Date________________________
                        Time________________________

Sl. No.	Description of Documents
1.	Bill of Lading / Airway Bill
2.	Import Invoice
3.	Packing List
4.	Certificate of Analysis / MSDC / N.O.C. Form / ADC etc.
5.	Insurance Policy / Certificate
6.	Certificate of Origin, wherever necessary
7.	DEEC Declaration, if applicable
8.	GATT Declaration of value
9.	Undertaking for payment of duty
10.	Contract & L/C if any and any other documents in support of the declared value / High Sea Sale agreement
11.	Product Catalogue / Technical Literature / Chartered Engineer Certificate wherever required
12.	ITC Licence / DEEC Book / EPCG Licence / DEPB Scrip / 100% EOU Cft. & green card / DFRC / TRA if any etc.
13.	Any other document

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( Tick wherever applicable )