9 Suggestions on Customs Laws

Advocate Ramesh Chandra Jena 05 Sep 2020 1,827 Views 0 comment Print Custom Duty | Articles

All Odisha Tax Advocates Association has made Suggestions for review of existing Customs duty exemption notifications / Customs laws and procedures to CBIC. Text of the Submission id as follows-

21’st August’ 2020

To,

Shri S. W. Haider,
OSD (TRU).
Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs,
Government of India, Ministry of Finance,
(Department of Revenue),
Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs,
(Tax Research Unit), North Block,
New Delhi- 110001.

Subject: Suggestions for review of existing Customs duty exemption notifications/Customs laws and procedures- Regarding.

Respected Sir,

We, on behalf of the All Odisha Tax Advocates Association taking this opportunity to give suggestions on existing Customs laws and procedures for aligning them with the needs of changing times and ease of doing business and to bring synchronization between Customs laws and GST laws. The various suggestions in Customs laws and procedures are summarized in below table:-

Sl. No.	Customs Act & Notification	Existing Provisions	Suggestions
1	Section -17	At present any payment after assessment of duty of imported goods or exported goods if any, MOT supervision charges etc., is required to paid by the importer / exporter / CHA physically by way of Customs challan to be deposited through nominated Bank’s Branches at Customs House.	Hence, it is suggested for implementation of online facility of e-payment on Customs portal like GST provision; so that importer/ exporter/ CHA would be benefited on account of save of time and helpful during bank’s strike or bank’s holidays. The online payment of Customs duty would certainly enhance smooth operation of imports / exports in the country.
2	Section-27	Claim for refund of duty – Any person claiming refund of any duty or interest (a) paid by him or (b) borne by him may make an application in such form and manner as may be prescribed for such refund before the expiry of one year, from the date of payment of such duty or interest.	Under GST- Section 54 – Any person claiming refund of any tax and interest, if any, paid on such tax or any other amount paid by him, ay make an application before the expiry of two years from the relevant date. Hence, it is suggested that the Customs provision should be amended to 2 years in place of existing 1 year.
3	Section -27A	Interest on Delayed refunds- If any duty ordered to be refunded to an applicant is not refunded within three months from the date of receipt of application, there shall be paid to that applicant interest at such rate not below 5% and not exceeding 30% per annum on such duty from the date immediately after the expiry of three months from the date of receipt of such application till the date of refund of such duty.	Interest on Delayed refunds- Section 56- If any tax ordered to be refunded to any applicant is not refunded within sixty days from the date of receipt of application, interest at such rate not exceeding six per cent, shall be payable in respect of such refund from the date immediately after the expiry of sixty days from the date of receipt of application till the date of refund of such tax. Hence, it is suggested that the Customs provision of payment of interest rate should be amended to 6% and time period should be amended to 60 days in place of 90 days.
4	Section 128A	Appeal to Commissioner (Appeals): – Any person aggrieved by any decision or order by an officer of customs lower in rank than a Commissioner of Customs, may appeal to the Commissioner (Appeals) within sixty days from the date of communication to him of such decision or order.	Appeals to Appellate Authority: Section 107- Any person aggrieved by any decision or order by an Adjudicating Authority may appeal to such Appellate Authority within three months from the date on which the said decision or order is communicated to such person. Hence, it is suggested that the provision of Customs Act should be amended to 90 days in place 60 days for filing Appeal.
5	Section- 149	There is no provision of online amendment of bill of entry or a shipping bill or bill of export filed with Customs and once Customs assessment completed by the Customs Officer. But, the manually amendment of documents are permitted with the approval of Commissioner of Customs, but the manually amendment procedure takes much time.	It is therefore suggested that amendment of bill of entry / shipping bill and other documents should be permitted online through ICEGATE so that amended bill of entry / shipping bill would enhance smooth operation of imports and exports shipments.
6	Notification for MOOSWR	Manufacture and Other Operations in Special Warehouse Regulations, 2020(MOOSWR) have been issued vide Notification No. 75/2020-Customs (N.T.) dated 17.08.2020. The said regulations allow manufacturing and other operations in a special warehouse licensed under section 58A, and 65 of the Customs Act, 1962. The resultant product emerges out of manufacturing or other operations of warehouse is required to clear for domestic consumption on payment of applicable GST and compensation Cess as per Board Circular dated 36/2020-Customs dated 17.8.2020.	It is suggested that exemption from payment of compensation cess should be waived for resultant product emerges out of manufacturing or other operations of warehouse, so that importer / exporters would be benefited on account of financial crunch due to burden of compensation cess.
7	Notification for Drawback rates	The Drawback has been notified vide Notification No. 07/2020-Customs (N.T.), dated 28.01.2020, wherein there is only single rate of drawback provided by virtue of sub-section (2) of section 37 of the Central Excise Act, 1944 (1 of 1944), read with rules 3 and 4 of the Customs and Central Excise Duties Drawback Rules, 2017.	Earlier there were two drawback rates with CENVAT / without CENVAT was prevailed before implementation of GST. Now, only single rate of drawback has been prescribed vide Notification No. 7/20-(NT), dated 28.01.2020. It is suggested to provide two types of rates under Drawback by considering availability of input Tax credit under GST and non-availability of Input Tax credit under GST.
8	EGM / IGM	Export General Manifest is required to be filed with Customs online beforehand by the exporter, who will be exporting goods from the country; EGM is tentative information, which needs amendment on certain circumstances. Similarly, Import General Manifest is required to be filed with Customs online beforehand by the importer for the imported goods before touching Customs frontier; IGM is tentative information, which needs amendment on certain occasions. But there is no provision of online amendment of EGM / IGM once filed with Customs. Hence, manually amendment of EGM/ IGM takes much time for approval from the customs authority.	It is suggested for online amendment of EGM / IGM should be implemented for export / import cargo so that it facilitates & enhance smooth operation of export /import shipments at sea port, ICD & Air port as the case may be.
9	ATA Carnet	ATA Carnet is a temporary admission document, which simplifies the Customs procedures and clearances in a foreign country, without duty or a bank guarantee for temporary import into that country. Temporary import under ATA Carnet is allowed free of duty on the condition of re-export within period of six months vide Notification No. Notification No.157/90-Customs dated 28-03-1990 as amended by Notification No. 58/2016-Customs dated 5th October’2016.	It suggested to provide relaxation of time period of 1 year in place of six months of re-export of goods accordingly, a suitable amendment is needed in the said Notification for the benefits of the stakeholders.