F.No. 524/11/2022-STO(TU)
Government of India
Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue
Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs
North Block, New Delhi
Circular No. 08/2023 Dated: 13.03.2023
To,
All Principal Chief Commissioners/ Chief Commissioners of Customs/Customs (Preventive),
All Principal Chief Commissioners/ Chief Commissioners of Customs and Central Tax
All Principal Commissioners/ Commissioners of Customs/ Customs (Preventive)
All Principal Directors General/Directors General, under CBIC
Madam/ Sir,
Subject: Telecom equipment in the context of notification No. 02/2019- Customs dated 29-01-2019 amending notification No. 57/2017-Customs dated 30.06.3017 – reg
Attention of the field formations is invited to notification No. 57/2017-Customs dated 30.06.3017 amended by notification No. 02/2019- Customs dated 29-01-2019 which, against tariff items 8517 62 90 and 8517 69 90, gives descriptions of certain goods that are telecommunication products or equipment.
2. In this context, the Board was apprised that some of these technology related descriptions, specifically those at (b) to (h), amongst (a) to (h), in the notification, need to be better understood by all stakeholders for a more effective identification of products and equipment covered therein.
3. Accordingly, in order to make stakeholders more aware in the matter, and in consultation with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) –
(a) the identification of products/equipment covered thereunder, at (b) to (h) of the notification, is illustrated in Annexure -1;
(b) it is decided that, in terms of the Bill of Entry (Electronic Integrated Declaration and Paperless Processing) Regulations 2018, an identification of products/equipment under 85176290 and 85176990 shall be enabled from the beginning, that is, from the time of filing of import declarations itself, bringing certainty, for which an alpha numeric code/identifier as provided for in Annexure -2 will need to be additionally declared in bill of entry by the importer with effect from 01.04.2023.
4. Suitable Public Notice, etc may kindly be issued for guidance. Difficulty faced, if any, in implementation may be intimated. The Hindi version follows.
Encl: Annexure -1, 2 & abbreviations list
Varun Koundinya
OSD-Tariff Unit
email: [email protected]
Tel:23095557
Annexure -1
| Notfn item | Notification description |
Identification of products/equipment covered |
| (b) and
(d) |
Optical transport equipment and Optical Transport Network products |
Machines and apparatus covered include –
i. OTN equipment; ii. Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexer (DWDM); iii. Coarse Wavelength Division Multiplexer (CWDM); iv. Elements of (i), (ii) or (iii) above: ROADM, Booster Amplifiers, Pre-Amplifiers, Inline Amplifiers, Raman Amplifiers, Mux-demux, Transponders, Mux-ponders, OADM and Regenerators, Optical Power Monitoring and Optical Line Protection equipment. |
| (c) | Combination of one or more of Packet Optical Transport Product or Switch (POTP or POTS) | The Machines/apparatus covered under this category include-
i. Optical Line Terminal (OLT) for FTTX (GPON/ EPON/ XGSPON/ 10GEPON/ NG-PON2 / 25GPON / 50GPON etc.); ii. Optical Network Terminal (ONT) for FTTX (GPON/ EPON/ XGSPON/ 10GEPON/ NG-PON2 / 25GPON / 50GPON etc.). |
| (e) | Internet Protocol (IP) Radios | The Machines/apparatus covered under this category include –
i. Wi-Fi Access Point Equipment and Wi-Fi Controller ; ii. Repeaters (RF/RF-over-Optical) & In-Building Solution (IBS)-Indoor/Outdoor including active and passive Accessories (2G/3G/ 4G/5G and onwards); iii. Wireless Radio Link – (IP/Hybrid) equipment. |
| (f) | Soft switches and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) equipment, namely, VoIP phones, Media gateways, Gateway controllers and Session border controllers |
Card/module or sub-systems converting analog voice signal into digital packets that are carried over internet protocol use one or more of these products. Some examples are-
i. Internet Protocol Private Branch Exchange (IP PBX); ii. IP Multimedia Systems (IMS); iv. Unified communication systems (UCS). |
| (g) | Carrier Ethernet Switches, Packet Transport Node (PTN) products, Multiprotocol Label Switching Transport Profile (MPLS-TP) products | The Machines/apparatus covered under these categories include-
i. IP-MPLS Based equipment; ii. MPLS-TP based equipment; iii. SDN Based MPLS equipment; iv. PTN products for Carrier Ethernet Network (CEN) for Access and Aggregation Network Applications |
| (h) | Multiple Input/Multiple Output (MIMO) and Long- term Evolution (LTE) products | The Machines/apparatus covered under these categories include-
i. 4G(LTE) products and their Elements, namely- eNode B, RRH, CU, DU, RU, BBU, EPC, MME, SGW, PGW, HSS, IMS, Network In a Box (NIB), 4G CPE, etc.; ii. 5G products and its Elements, namely- gNodeB, RRH, CU, DU, RU, BBU, 5GC, IMS, Network In a Box (NIB), 5G CPE, etc.; iii. 4G and 5G enabled NB IoT devices; iv. Equipment incorporating technologies beyond 5G. |
–
| Identifier | Product/equipment against tariff heading 85176290 or 85176990 |
| A | Wrist wearable devices (Commonly known as smart watches) |
| MAA001 | WWD-smart watches |
| B&D | Optical Transport Equipment & Optical Transport Network (OTN) Products in item (b) & (d) of notification |
| TEB001 | OTE-ROADM |
| TEB002 | OTE-Booster Amplifiers |
| TEB003 | OTE-Pre-Amplifiers |
| TEB004 | OTE-Inline Amplifiers |
| TEB005 | OTE-Mux-Demux |
| TEB006 | OTE-Transponders |
| TEB007 | OTE-Muxponders |
| TEB008 | OTE-Raman Amplifiers |
| TEB009 | OTE-OADM |
| TEB010 | OTE-Regenerators |
| TEB011 | OTE-Optical Power Monitoring |
| TEB012 | OTE-Optical Line Protection |
| TEB999 | OTE-Others |
| C | Combination of one or more of Packet Optical Transport Product or Switch (POTP or POTS) in item (c) of notification |
| (C1) | Optical Line Terminal |
| TEC101 | OLT-GPON |
| TEC102 | OLT-EPON |
| TEC103 | OLT-XGSPON |
| TEC104 | OLT-10GEPON |
| TEC105 | OLT-NG-PON2 |
| TEC106 | OLT-25GPON |
| TEC107 | OLT-50GPON |
| TEC199 | OLT-Others |
| (C2) | Optical Network Terminal/Unit |
| TEC201 | ONT-GPON |
| TEC202 | ONT-EPON |
| TEC203 | ONT-XGSPON |
| TEC204 | ONT-10GEPON |
| TEC205 | ONT-NG-PON2 |
| TEC206 | ONT-25GPON |
| TEC207 | ONT-50GPON |
| TEC299 | ONT-Others |
| E | Internet Protocol Radios in item (e) of notification |
| TEE001 | IPR-WiFi Access Point Equipment |
| TEE002 | IPR-WiFi Controller |
| TEE003 | IPR-Repeaters (RF/RF-over-Optical) & In-Building Solution (IBS)-Indoor/ |
| Outdoor including Active and passive Accessories (2G/3G/4G/5G and onwards) | |
| TEE004 | IPR-Wireless Radio Link (IP/Hybrid equipment) |
| TEE999 | IPR-Others |
| F | Soft switches and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) equipment in item (f) of notification |
| TEF001 | VoIP-VOIP Phones |
| TEF002 | Media Gateways |
| TEF003 | Gateway Controllers and Session Border Controllers |
| TEF004 | Internet Protocol Private Branch Exchange (IP PBX) |
| TEF005 | IP Multimedia Subsystems (IMS) |
| TEF006 | Unified Communication Systems (UCS) |
| TEF007 | Card / Module or Subsystem converting analog voice signal into digital packets that are carried over internet protocol that uses one or more of these products [other than IP PBX, IMS,UCS] |
| TEF999 | VoIP –Others |
| G | Carrier Ethernet Switches, Packet Transport Node (PTN) products, Multiprotocol Label Switching Transport Profile (MPLS-TP) products in item (g) of notification |
| TEG001 | IP-MPLS based Equipment |
| TEG002 | PTN based Equipment |
| TEG003 | MPLS-TP based Equipment |
| TEG999 | Others |
| H | Long-Term Evolution (LTE) (4G based) and Multiple Input/Multiple Output (MIMO) in item (h) of notification |
| (H1) | Long-Term Evolution (LTE) (4G based) |
| TEH101 | 4G-RRH |
| TEH102 | 4G-RU |
| TEH103 | 4G-BBU |
| TEH104 | 4G-CU |
| TEH105 | 4G-DU |
| TEH106 | 4G-eNodeB |
| TEH107 | 4G-CPE |
| TEH108 | 4G-EPC |
| TEH109 | 4G-IMS |
| TEH110 | 4G-Network In A Box (NIB)/ Compact LTE System |
| TEH111 | 4G-SGW |
| TEH112 | 4G-PGW |
| TEH199 | 4G-Others |
| (H2) | Multiple Input/Multiple Output (MIMO) (5G based) |
| TEH201 | 5G-RRH |
| TEH202 | 5G-RU |
| TEH203 | 5G-BBU |
| TEH204 | 5G-CU |
| TEH205 | 5G-DU |
| TEH206 | 5G-gNodeB |
| TEH207 | 5G-CPE |
| TEH008 | 5G-5GC |
| TEH209 | 5G-IMS |
| TEH210 | 5G-Network In A Box (NIB)/ Compact System |
| TEH299 | 5G and Next Generation products-Others |
| Z | Others |
| MAZ999 | all goods other than those covered in (a) to (h) of Sl.no 20 Of notification 57/2017- customs as amended by notification No. 02/2019-Customs dated 29.01.2019 |
Abbreviations
Abbreviations used are listed below:
| DSL | Digital Subscriber Line |
| ADSL | Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line |
| vdsl | Very High-Rate Digital Subscriber Line |
| HDSL | High-bit-rate digital subscriber line |
| sdsl | Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line |
| ITU | International Telecommunication Union |
| ISDN | Integrated Services Digital Network |
| MPEG | Moving Picture Experts Group |
| OTN | Optical Transport Network |
| DXC | Digital Cross Connector |
| DCI | Data Center Interconnect |
| WSS | Wavelength Selective Switch |
| ROADM | Reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer |
| EDFA | Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier |
| FTTH | Fiber to the home |
| GPON | Gigabit Passive Optical Network |
| EPON | Ethernet passive optical network |
| NG-PON2 | Next-Generation Passive Optical Network 2 |
| ONU | Optical Network Unit |
| APs | Access Points |
| RF | Radio Frequency |
| TDM | Time Division Multiplexing |
| VoIP | Voice over IP |
| RFC | Request for Comments |
| RRH | Remote Radio Head |
| RU | Radio Unit |
| DU | Distributed Unit |
| CPE | Customer premises equipment |
| EPC | Evolved Packet Core |
| IMS | IP Multimedia Subsystem |
| 5GC | 5G Core |
| eNB | eNodeB |
| BBU | Baseband Unit |
| RRU | Remote Radio Unit |
| AAU | Active antenna processing unit |
| MME | Mobility Management Entity |
| SGW | Serving gateway |
| HSS | Home Subscriber Server |
| PCRF | Policy and Charging Rules Function |
| AMF | Access and Mobility Management Function |
| UPF | User Plane Function |
| HSS | Home Subscriber Server |
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