Amendments to be effective from the date on which Finance Bill, 2017 receives the assent of the President
♦ Definition of following terms is proposed to be incorporated in section 2 of the Customs Act, 1962:
- Beneficial owner
- Passenger Name Record Information
- Foreign Post Office and
- International Courier Terminal
♦ Section 2 of the Customs Act, 1962 is further proposed to be amended to include:
- Foreign Post Office and International Courier Terminal in the definition of a customs station.
- Beneficial owner in the existing definitions of exporter as well as importer.
♦ Section 7 of the Customs Act, 1962 to be amended to empower the Board to notify Foreign Post Offices and International Courier Terminals.
♦ Section 17 of the Customs Act, 1962 is proposed to be amended to rationalize the requirement of documents for verification of self-assessment.
♦ Section 27(2) of the Customs Act, 1962 to be amended so as to keep outside the ambit of unjust enrichment, the refund of duty paid in excess by the importer before an order permitting clearance of goods for home consumption is made, where-
- such excess payment is evident from the bill of entry in the case of self-assessed bill of entry or
- the duty actually payable is reflected in the reassessed bill of entry in the case of reassessment.
♦ Section 28E(e) of the Customs Act, 1962 is proposed to be amended so as to substitute the definition of ‘Authority for Advance Ruling’ to mean the Authority for Advance Ruling as constituted under section 245-O of the Income-tax Act, 1961.
♦ Section 28F of the Customs Act, 1962 to be amended so as to provide that the Authority for Advance Rulings constituted under section 245-O of the Income-tax Act, 1961 shall be the Authority for giving advance rulings for the purposes of the Customs Act, 1962.
It is further sought to provide that the Member of the Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise), who is qualified to be a Member of the Board, shall be the revenue Member of the Authority for the purposes of Customs Act.
The pending applications are proposed to be transferred to the Authority constituted under section 245-O of the Income-tax Act from the stage at which such proceedings stood as on the date on which the Finance Bill, 2017 receives the assent of the President.
♦ Section 28H(3) of the Customs Act, 1962 is proposed to be amended so as to increase the application fee for seeking advance ruling from Rs. 2,500 to Rs. 10,000 on the lines of the Income-tax Act.
♦ Section 28-I(6) of the Customs Act, 1962 to be amended so as to provide time of limit of 6 months by which Authority shall pronounce its ruling on the lines of the Income-tax Act.
♦ A new section 30A to be introduced in the Customs Act, 1962 so as to make it obligatory on the person-in-charge of a conveyance that enters India from any place outside India or any other person as may be specified by the Central Government by notification in the Official Gazette, to deliver to the proper officer the passenger and crew arrival manifest before arrival in the case of an aircraft or a vessel and upon arrival in the case of a vehicle; and passenger name record information of arriving passengers in such form, containing such particulars, in such manner and within such time as may be prescribed. The section also intends to provide for imposition of a penalty not exceeding ` 50,000, as may be prescribed, in the case of delay in delivering the information.
♦ A new section 41A to be introduced in the Customs Act, 1962 so as to make it obligatory on the person-in-charge of a conveyance that departs from India to a place outside India or any other person as may be specified by the Central Government by notification in the Official Gazette, to deliver to the proper officer the passenger and crew departure manifest and passenger name record information of departing passengers before the departure of the conveyance in such form, containing such particulars, in such manner and within such time as may be prescribed. The section also intends to provide for a penalty not exceeding ` 50,000, as may be prescribed in the case of delay in delivering the information.
♦ Section 46(3) of the Customs Act, 1962 is to be substituted so as to make it mandatory to file the bill of entry before the end of the next day following the day (excluding holidays) on which the vessel or aircraft or vehicle carrying the goods arrives at a customs station at which such goods are to be cleared for home consumption or warehousing and to provide for imposition of such charges for late presentation of the bill of entry, as may be prescribed.
♦ Section 47(2) of the Customs Act, 1962 is to be amended so as to provide the manner of payment of duty and interest thereon in the case of self-assessed bills of entry or, as the case may be, assessed, reassessed or provisionally assessed bills of entry.
♦ Section 49 of the Customs Act, 1962 provides the facility of storage of imported goods entered for home consumption in a warehouse pending their clearance. The said section is proposed to be amended to extend the said facility to imported goods entered for warehousing before their removal.
♦ Section 82 relating to label or declaration accompanying goods to be treated as entry for import or export is proposed to be omitted.
Consequently, section 69 of the Customs Act, 1962 relating to clearance of warehoused goods for exportation is proposed to be accordingly amended to align it with the proposed omission of section 82.
Further, Board is proposed to be empowered to make regulations to provide for the form and manner in which an entry may be made in respect of goods imported or to be exported by post by amending section 84 of the Customs Act, 1962.
♦ A new sub-section (5) to be inserted to section 127B of the Customs Act, 1962 to enable any person, other than applicant, referred to in sub-section (1) to make an application to the Settlement Commission.
♦ Section 127C(3) of the Customs Act, 1962 is to be amended so as to substitute certain words therein. It further seeks to insert a new sub-section (5A) therein to enable the Settlement Commission to amend the order passed by it under sub-section (5), to rectify any error apparent on the face of record.
♦ Section 157 of the Customs Act, 1962 is to be amended so as to empower Board to make regulations for specifying the form, particulars, manner and time of providing the passenger and crew manifest for arrival and departure and passenger name record information and penalty in the case of delay in delivering the information.
♦ Section 9(3)(c) of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 is to be substituted so as to withdraw the exemption to three categories of non-actionable subsidies specified therein from the scope of anti-subsidy investigations.
