TIOL-DDT 2900
01 08 2016
Monday

CHAPTER 6 of the Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) provides for manufacture of goods and supply of services, including repair, re-making, reconditioning, re-engineering by

1. Export Oriented Units (EOUs),

2. Electronics Hardware Technology Park Units (EHTPs),

3. Software Technology Park Units (STPIs) and

4. Bio-Technology Park Units

and undertaking to export their entire production of goods and services, except permissible sales in DTA.

Notification No. 52/2003-Customs dated 31.03.2003, exempts specified goods when imported for use in these units, from payment of Customs duties, subject to various conditions. The notification provides for warehousing of imported goods, to be used for manufacture of goods or other operations as well as their ex-bonding under certain circumstances. The Units, obtain a license as a warehouse under Section 58 of the Customs Act and permission under Section 65 of the Act, as a manufacture-in-bond facility.

Now the Government has decided to to do away with the need to comply with warehousing provisions by these units. Notification No. 52/2003-Customs dated 31.03.2003, is amended.

Consequently;

1. The warehoused goods register (warehousing bond register) shall not be required to be maintained.

2. However, in order to maintain records of receipts, storage, processing and removal of goods, imported by the units, as required under notification 52/2003-Cus dated 31.3.2003, the Board has prescribed that the units shall maintain records of imported goods, in digital form.

3. The software for maintenance of digital records must incorporate the feature of audit trail which means a secure, computer generated, time-stamped electronic record that allows for reconstruction of the course of events relating to the creation, modification, or deletion of an electronic record and includes actions at the record or system level, such as, attempts to access the system or delete or modify a record.

4. All units are required to enter data accurately and immediately upon the goods being received in or removed from the unit.

5. The digital records should be kept updated, accurate, complete and available at the unit at all times for verification by the proper officer, whenever required.

6. A digital copy of the Form containing transactions for the month, shall be provided to the proper officer, each month (by the 10th of month) in a CD or Pen drive, as convenient to the unit.

7 In view of the warehousing procedures having been dispensed with for these units, the system of sending re-warehousing certificates to the customs station of import shall also stand dispensed

Notification No. 44/2016-Customs., Dated: July 29 2016

CBEC Circular No. 36/2016-Customs., Dated: July 29 2016

E-Commerce - Export Through Foreign Post Offices -CBEC Instructions

PARA 3.05 of the Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) 2015-20 provides for export of goods through select foreign post offices as a part of e-Commerce exports. Exports of goods through foreign post office using e-commerce shall be permitted through the Foreign Post Offices at Delhi, Mumbai & Chennai. The exports shall be entitled for rewards under MEIS.

For the purposes of Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) e-commerce shall mean the export of goods hosted on a website accessible through the internet to a purchaser. While the dispatch of goods shall be made through courier or postal mode as specified under the MEIS the payment for goods purchased on e-commerce platform shall be done through international credit/debit cards and as per the Reserve Bank of India Circular.

CBEC has prescribed the procedure for export of goods sold through e-commerce from FPOs at Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai. Any exporter holding a valid Import-Export Code shall be permitted to export goods sold through e-commerce through the FPOs at Delhi, Mumbai & Chennai. The exporter shall be required to file a Postal Bill of Export (PBE)in the format prescribed.

The declaration for claiming of benefit under MEIS shall be made by the exporter on the PBE. Every PBE shall be filed in duplicate and shall cover only one consignor and up to ten consignees.

In addition, the exporter shall continue to comply with the requirements under section 82 of the Customs Act, namely filing of the label or declaration as prescribed by the Postal Department.

Since e-commerce shipments are time bound express shipments, Board advises Principal Commissioners/Commissioners to ensure speedy clearance of the parcels and use non-intrusive examination techniques, such as, x-ray, for facilitating clearance.In the event of any specific intelligence/suspicion regarding the goods contained in the parcel, which necessitates examination, the approval of the Deputy Commissioner of Customs/Assistant Commissioner of Customs shall be obtained by the proper officer for opening and examining the same.

If there is any difficulty in implementation, do inform the Board.

CBEC Circular No. 36/2016/Customs., Dated: July 29 2016

Declaration of Assets and Liabilities by Babus -Due Date Extended to 31 st December 2016

THE last date for filing the declaration was originally 15th September 2014 which was extended regularly till 31st July 2016. This time there would have been no need for extension as they proposed to change the Law itself. Anyway before the Law could be enacted, there is yet another extension - this time till, 31st December 2016. Most probably, there would be no further extension as by December, the Law would not require these returns.

DoPT Office Memorandum No. 407/16/2016-AVD-IV(LP)., Dated: July 29 2016

Relief in Average Export Obligation in terms of Para 5.19 of Hand Book of Procedures of FTP 2015-20.

PARA 5.19 of the Hand Book of Procedures of FTP 2015-20 permits re-fixation of Annual Average Export Obligation, in case the export in any sector/product group declines by more than 5%. This implies that the sector/product group that witnessed such decline in 2015-16 as compared to 2014-15, would be entitled for such relief.

All Regional Offices are requested to re-fix the annual average export obligation for EPCG Authorizations for the year 2015-16 accordingly. Reduction, if any, in the EO should be appropriately endorsed in the licence file of the office of RA as also in the Amendment Sheet to be issued to the EPCG Authorisation holder.

DGFT Policy Circular No. 1/2015-20., Dated: July 26 2016

Amendment in the Import Policy Condition No.3 of Chapter 12 of ITC (HS), 2012

GOVERNMENT has amended the Import Policy Condition No.3 of Chapter 12 of ITC (HS), 2012, Schedule - I (Import Policy) to delegate to the Revenue Department the power to frame the detailed guidelines regarding registration of contracts with Narcotics Commissioner, Gwalior for import of poppy seeds.

DGFT Notification No. 17/2015-20., Dated: July 29 2016

Justice Goda Raghuram appointed Director of National Judicial Academy

JUSTICE Goda Raghuram, former President of CESTAT has been appointed as the Director of the National Judicial Academy at Bhopal. The Judicial Academy has the legal mandate of strengthening the administration of justice through judicial education, research and policy development. The Mission is knowledge for justice. It is widely acknowledged to be the best judicial education campus in the world.The post has been lying vacant for nearly two years. But at last, they have found the most correct person to lead the academy. A journalist who was not exactly in the best of terms with Justice Raghuram when he was President of CESTAT told me, "we don't need such scholars in CESTAT, he should be in the National Judicial Academy." Even an adversary cannot help admiring his erudition. He is a scholar with deep understanding of law, command of language and clarity in thought and expression. During his three years in CESTAT, he acquired an enviable mastery of the tax subjects that perhaps nobody else in the country understood service tax as he did.

There has been a lot of appreciative discussion recently about the Madras High Court Judgement on Press freedom, but Justice Goda Raghuram had ten years ago delivered a spectacular judgement in the case of the famous movie "The Da Vinci Code".

In this judgement, he said:

We enjoy a shared membership of the human race and our future depends on tolerance of distinctions that mark the richness and diversity of the plural global community of man. Faith, race, religion, dogma or culture are not wholly homogeneous attributes. There are several clear subtle and evolving variations within the same general milieu.

Freedom of speech and expression significantly contributes to a liberal open-minded civil society; rational, tolerant and accommodating plurality - what this freedom means and in the Indian constitutional context, is yet again in issue in this case.

The right to communicate and receive ideas, facts, knowledge, information, beliefs, theories, creative and emotive impulses by speech or by written word, drama, theatre, dance, music, film, through a news paper, magazine or book is an essential component of the protected right and may be exercised untrammeled by unreasonable Governmental restraint.

Dan Brown, the author of "The Da Vinci Code" was so impressed that he presented an autographed copy of the book to him with the remarks, "with my sincere gratitude for your wisdom".

I had the experience of chaperoning him for two days recently and I was simply swept away in the avalanche of knowledge that effortlessly slid from him.

All the best to Justice Goda Raghuram in his new assignment. We hope the National Judicial Academy under his leadership will be able to provide guidance the CESTAT Members and Departmental Representatives.

Addressing a conference in the National Judicial Academy a few months ago, Justice Raghuram said, when some body comes to you to seek justice, you must deliver justice.

No Ban on Journalists from attending and reporting Court Proceedings - Kerala High Court

THE Kerala High Court has clarified that there is no ban imposed on the Journalists from attending and reporting Court Proceedings. The Committee to formulate Code for the Press and Electronic Media in relation to Reporting of Court Proceedings will look into the issue of framing guidelines to provide prompt and easy access for the Journalists to judgments and orders which are pronounced and issued.

The High Court however added that taking into account the requirements to insulate the Chamber and Office of each Judge and attached Staff, including Private Secretaries and Personal Assistants, the individual Judges will be at liberty to decline access to any person to their Chambers and the Office of the Private Secretaries and Personal Assistants.

Now, should judges allow journalists into their chambers? If journalists are allowed to meet judges in their chambers to get judgements explained to, will it not result in chaos?

But then should judges refuse to meet journalists? A retired CESTAT Member told me an interesting incident. "A CESTAT Member refused to meet an eminent Tax journalist after making him wait for quite some time. Later, the journalist ran a public tirade against the Member and continued it till he retired. So, learning from this experience, I would meet anyone who wanted to meet me."

The journalist proclaimed that his missiles had nothing to do with his being denied an audience by the Member and the Member strongly believed that there was no better reason for the journalist to denigrate him.

But a judgement has life only when it is reported and you need reporters for that. Justice Raghuram once said that it scares a judge that no one is there to look at his judgement and what he says is the law.

Kerala High Court Press Note in A1-76183/2007., Dated: July 30 2016

Babus to Get 7th Pay Commission Salary with Arrears in August

CENTRAL Government employees are to get revised salaries as recommended by the 7th Pay Commission with effect from 1.1.2016.

Department of Expenditure has issued an Office Memorandum stipulating that arrears as accruing on account of revised pay consequent upon fixation of pay under CCS (RP) Rules, 2016 with effect from 01.01.2016 shall be paid in cash in one installment along with the payment of salary for the month of August, 2016, after making necessary adjustment on account of GPF and NPS, as applicable.

Department of Expenditure Office memorandum No.1-5/2016-IC., Dated: July 29 2016

Increase in Tariff Value of All Items Except Poppy seeds and Areca Nuts

GOVERNMENT has increased the tariff value of all the oils, Brass scrap, gold and silver.

Notification No. 104/2016-CUSTOMS (N.T.)., Dated: July 29, 2016

Until Tomorrow with more DDT

Have a nice day.

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