Sharing of cases booked by Customs field formations under Information Sharing Protocol with MB

Instruction No. 13/2018—Customs

F.No. 394/35/2014-Cus (AS)
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs
(Anti-Smuggling Unit)

***

New Delhi, dated 29^th August, 2018

To

All Principal Chief Commissioners/Chief Commissioners of Customs,

All Principal Chief Commissioners/Chief Commissioners of Customs (Preventive),

All Principal Chief Commissioners/Chief Commissioners of Customs & GST

Madam / Sir,

Subject: Sharing of cases booked by Customs field formations under the Information Sharing Protocol with MB — regarding.

During the ‘Working Group on Intelligence Apparatus’ meeting held on 26.03.2018, it was noted by the Finance Secretary that information sharing has become sporadic and a matter of pick and choose and that it is absolutely essential that intelligence sharing should be a continuous process and not something that is negotiable/discretionary. In this background, Finance Secretary stressed that all Investigating Agencies should regularly share information with Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB).

2. To implement the said directions, an Information Sharing Protocol (ISP) (copy enclosed) was finalised which all agencies/formations have to put in place by way of explicit written order for compliance by all the designated members of respective Regional Economic Intelligence Councils (REICs). Further, other actionable intelligence/information not forming part of the ISP should be shared with the concerned agencies/departments on real-time basis.

3. Annexed to the Information Sharing Protocol is a time schedule of sharing of information at various stages. The entire process of investigation has been divided into four stages of (i) seizure/detection, (ii) show cause notice, (iii) order-in-original, (iv) prosecution, and time lines for sharing of information with CEIB has been fixed for the stages.

4. In view of the above, it is requested that all concerned formations under your jurisdiction may be directed to share the desired information with CEIB in terms of the enclosed Information Sharing Protocol and the stage-wise timelines annexed with it (sl. no. 15 pertains to CBIC).

Yours faithfully,

Encl: As above

(Rohit Anan)
Under Secretary to the Government of India

Information Sharing Protocol

1. Nodal Officer responsible for ensuring that reporting is done regularly, to be nominated by the Head of the Agency/Department. Name, designation & contact numbers to be provided.

2. All cases where offence is detected, irrespective of the nature of offence, which involves contravention of any economic statute, are to be shared within a week of such detection/adjudication (unless specifically mentioned in the attached annexure). It may be noted that even if any order by any agency is placed in the public domain/website, a copy still needs to be sent to CEIB.

3. In cases where inter agency ramifications noticed during course of investigation, that agency should be informed directly to save time (alongwith all supporting facts & figures) but invariably, a copy be enclosed to CEIB.

4. For the time being, sharing may be done through (Secure Information Exchange Meeting) SIEN or hard copy till the necessary secure message sharing platforms are put in place by CEIB.

5. So far as context of information is concerned, the primary details would be identity (such as PAN/PP No., IEC, GSTIN, CIN, DIN etc.) name, address of the entity, relevant statute, date of action, details of seizure and the modus operandi adopted to violate the statute. Care must be taken to see that the modus operandi adopted must be spelt out in great clarity, so that any inter-agency ramification is brought on record.