Page 166 - DCOM308_DCOM502_INDIRECT_TAX_LAWS

Unit 10: Clearance Procedure of Imported and Exported Goods

the various duties such as basic, countervailing, anti-dumping, safeguard duties etc., that may be Notes
leviable. Thereafter the bill of entry goes to Assistant Commissioner/Deputy Commissioner
for confirmation depending upon certain value limits and sent to comptist who calculates the
duty amount taking into account the rate of exchange at the relevant date as provided under
Section 14 of the Customs Act.
14. After the assessment and calculation of the duty liability the importer’s representative has to
deposit the duty calculated with the treasury or the nominated banks, whereafter he can go and
seek delivery of the goods from the custodians.
15. Where the goods have already been examined for finalization of classification or valuation
no further examination/checking by the dock appraising staff is required at the time of giving
delivery and the goods can be taken delivery after taking appropriate orders and payment of
dues to the custodians, if any.
16. In most cases, the appraising officer assesses the goods on the basis of information and
details furnished to the importer in the bill of entry, invoice and other related documents
including catalogue, write-up etc. He also determines whether the goods are permissible for
import or there are any restriction/prohibition. He may allow payment of duty and delivery of
the goods on what is called second check/appraising basis in case there are no restriction/
prohibition. In this method, the duties as determined and calculated are paid in the Custom
House and appropriate order is given on the reverse of the duplicate copy of the bill of entry and
the importer or his agent after paying the duty submits the goods for examination in the import
sheds in the docks etc., to the examining staff. If the goods are found to be as declared and no
other discrepancies/misdeclarations, etc., are detected, the importer or his agent can clear the
goods after the shed appraiser gives out of charge order.
17. Wherever the importer is not satisfied with the classification, rate of duty or valuation as
may be determined by the appraising officer, he can seek an assessment order. An appeal
against the assessment order can be made to appropriate appellate authority within the time
limits and in the manner prescribed.
EDI Assessment
18. In the EDI system of handling of the documents/declarations for taking import clearances as
mentioned earlier the cargo declaration is transferred to the Assessing Officer in the groups
electronically.
19. The Assessing Officer processes the cargo declaration on screen with regard to all the
parameters as given above for manual process. However in EDI system, all the calculations are
done by the system itself. In addition, the system also supplies useful information for calculation
of duty.

Example: When a particular exemption notification is accepted, the system itself gives
the extent of exemption under that notification and calculates the duty accordingly. Similarly, it
automatically applies relevant rate of exchange in force while calculating. Thus no comptist is
required in EDI system. If Assessing Officer needs any clarification from the importer, he may
raise a query. The query is printed at the service centre and the party replies to the query
through the service centre.
20. After assessment, a copy of the assessed bill of entry is printed in the service centre. Under
EDI, documents are normally examined at the time of examination of the goods. Final bill of
entry is printed after ‘out of charge’ is given by the Custom Officer.

21. In EDI system, in certain cases, the facility of system appraisal is available. Under this process,
the declaration of importer is taken as correct and the system itself calculates duty which is paid
by the importer. In such case, no Assessing Officer is involved.

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 161