International Courier Terminals (ICTs):
(a) 14 Customs Airports in India have been designated to handle Courier operations.
(b) Express Cargo Clearance System (ECCS) has been enabled at 09 locations- Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Cochin, Kolkata, Jaipur and Ahmedabad. All ICTs having courier work load, are under electronic clearance mode.
(c) Faster movement of goods with 100% X-Ray screening of Import/ Export shipments having very limited physical examination based on Risk Management System (RMS) intervention.
(d) 24*7 operations for expeditious clearance at major ICTs.
(e) Obligation on individual exporter/importer to provide KYC details to courier.
(f) Customs clearances are governed under the Courier Imports and Exports (Electronic Declaration and Processing) Regulations, 2010, for electronic mode and the Courier Imports and Exports (Clearance) Regulations, 1998, for manual mode.
(g) The following goods may not be imported through Courier-
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- Animals and parts thereof, plants and parts thereof;
- Perishables;
- Publications containing maps depicting incorrect boundaries of India;
- Precious and semi-precious stones, Gold or Silver in any form, except reimport of jewellery;
(h) Import or export under Export Promotion Schemes is restricted as specified in the courier regulations.
(i) Value cap per export shipment has been enhanced from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh.
(j) Any financially solvent entity having assets of more than Rs. 25 Lakh can get registered as authorised courier, after meeting specified conditions.
(k) Registration once granted to authorised courier has been made valid for life but gets invalidated if not in operation for a continuous period of 01 year. The registration can be got revalidated on payment of prescribed fee and fulfilment of prescribed conditions.
(l) As a facilitation measure for the exporters, facilities of Advance Assessment and Auto Let Export Order have been introduced in ECCS.
Foreign Post Office (FPO):
(a) 28 FPOs have been notified by Customs to handle import and export of Goods by Posts.
(b) Import and Export allowed through simplified declarations.
(c) Export of ordinary and registered letter, Express Mail Service (EMS) i.e., Speed Post and Air Parcel is allowed.
(d) Import of Documents/ Letters/ Mails, Registered/ Unregistered Parcels, Samples/ Prototypes /Gifts and Commercial Consignments is allowed.
Hub & Spoke Model: Export through Postal Mode
(a) CBIC in coordination with the Department of Posts (DoP) has launched Postal Bill of Export (PBE) Automated System for promoting export through postal mode
(b) It functions on Hub & Spoke model where 28 FPOs act as Hubs and Post Offices spread across the length & breadth of the country will function as Spokes (Dak Ghar Niryat Kendras or DNKs). So far, 1001 such DNKs have been authorized.
(c) For exporting a parcel, an exporter or his authorized agent can file a PBE electronically on the PBE Automated System from work place/home.
(d) The exporter or his authorised agent has to physically deliver the export parcel to the nearest or the most convenient DNK.
(e) The DoP will move/carry the export parcel from DNK to the mapped FPO where Custom procedure will be carried out and Let export order (LEO) will be given.
(f) Dedicated export declaration has been designed to cater E-Commerce exports from MSMEs & Small Exporters.
Duty Structure:
(a) Import of bonafide commercial samples up to a value of R 10,000/- is allowed duty free.
(b) Personal imports i.e. imports by any person for personal use, not connected with trade or manufacture or agriculture, attract a duty of 42.08%.
(c) Commercial imports attract duty as per the classification of products imported.
(d) Import of gifts except Rakhi, lifesaving medicines or drugs attracts a duty of 77.28%.
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