Board Clarifies Amendments to Customs Act after Enactment of Finance Bill
2022
·
Jurisdictions
and Overlaps with Jurisdiction and Non-Jurisdiction Officers Clarified
[CBIC Circular No. 07/2022-Customs dated 31 March 2022]
Subject: Changes
in the Customs Act, 1962 vide
Sections 86, 87, 88 and 94
of the Finance Act, 2022 (enacted on 30.03.2022) and notifications related thereto with reference to appointment of officers of customs and assignment of functions.
Kind
reference
is invited to the
above
subject.
2. Changes have been made
in
sub-section (34) of section 2 of the Customs Act, more
classes of officers of customs have been specified in section 3, new sub-sections (1A), (1B),
(4)
and (5) inserted under Section 5, and a new section 110AA inserted relating to action
subsequent to inquiry, investigation or audit which applies in specified situations. For reference
purposes, extract from the Memorandum explaining the provisions in the Finance Bill, 2022, is reproduced below:
|
Amendments
in the Customs Act, 1962 |
Extract from Explanatory Memorandum |
|
2(34) |
This section is being modified to specifically state that assignment of
functions to an officer of Customs by the Board or the Principal
Commissioner of Customs or the Commissioner of Customs shall be done under the newly inserted sub-sections (1A) and (1B) of Section 5
of the Customs
Act,1962. |
|
3 |
Being amended to specifically include the officers of DRI, Audit and
Preventive formation in the class of Officers. This amendment has
been made to remove any ambiguity as regards the class of
officers of
Customs. |
|
5 (1A) & 5 (1B) |
Sub-section (1A) and (1B) have been inserted in section 5 of the Act to
explicitly provide power of assignment of function to officers of customs by the Board or as the
case may be, by the Principal Commissioner of
Customs or Commissioner of Customs. This amendment has been necessitated
to correct the infirmity
observed by
the Courts in recent judgments that the Act required explicit provision conferring powers for assignment of function to officers of Customs as proper officers for the purposes of the
Act, besides the
definition clause (34) in section 2 of the
Customs Act. |
|
5 (4) |
Sub-section (4) to section 5 is being inserted to delineate the criteria which the Board may adopt while imposing limitations or conditions under sub-section (1) or while assigning functions under sub-section (1A) to the officer
of Customs. For instance, one of the limitations/conditions that the Board currently imposes
on officers of customs is that they are required to operate within a specified territorial jurisdiction. However, with the launch of faceless assessments and
other trade facilitation initiatives wherein, for instance, a need is felt for the development of industry-specific
expertise in assessments the
Board may need to confine
jurisdiction to certain goods or class of goods. |
|
5 (5) |
Sub-section (5) to section 5 is being inserted to ensure that wherever
necessary, for the proper management of work, two or more officers
of customs, can
concurrently exercise
powers and functions (for example in the case
of faceless assessment) |
|
110AA |
Section 110AA is being inserted with a view to affirm the principle that, wherever, an original function duly exercised by an officer of competent
jurisdiction, is the subject matter of a subsequent inquiry, investigation, audit or any
other specified purpose by
any other officer of customs,
then, notwithstanding, such inquiry, investigation, audit or any other
purpose, the officer, who originally
exercised such jurisdiction shall
have the sole authority to exercise jurisdiction for further action like
reassessment, adjudications, etc. consequent to the completion of such inquiry, investigation, audit or
any other purpose. |
3. Consequent to enactment of the Finance Act, 2022, following notifications are issued
by the
Board.
|
Sr. |
Notification No.
and date |
Purpose in brief |
Clarification |
|
1. |
To appoint officers at the level of Commissioner of
Customs and below till AC/DC
for respective area
of jurisdiction. |
There is
no change in the
area of jurisdiction. |
|
|
2. |
To appoint officers at the level of Commissioner of Customs and
below till AC/DC for the purposes
of carrying out audit under section 99A
of Customs Act. |
Commissioner shall assign functions in
terms of section 5(1B). |
|
|
3. |
To appoint Commissioner
(Adjudication), Delhi and Mumbai
for the purposes
of adjudicating
cases assigned to them by the Board. |
The posts of ADG (Adjudication), DRI
in Delhi and Mumbai
are being re-
designated and officers being placed in the
area of jurisdiction of Chief
Commissioner
of Customs, Delhi and Mumbai, respectively. |
|
|
4. |
To appoint officers at the level
of Chief
Commissioner
of Customs for the areas falling within
the jurisdiction
of specified Commissioners. |
There is
no change in the
area of jurisdiction except as specified at sr.3 above. |
|
|
5. |
To appoint officers at the level
Principal Director General and
below till AD/DD of Revenue Intelligence. |
The jurisdiction is all
over India. |
|
|
6. |
To assign functions under various sections of
Customs Act to various officers of customs. |
Commissioner level officer shall
assign function in terms of section 5 (1B). |
|
|
7. |
To appoint officers and
assign functions relating to
Faceless Assessment |
Circular / Instruction issued relating to
Faceless Assessment
continue. |
|
|
8. |
For assigning proper
officer
in case of multiple jurisdictions
in terms of
section 110AA of
Customs Act. |
Such proper
officers
have been invested
with enabling
powers including issuing the notice and,
unless otherwise specified,
adjudication including
confiscation. |
|
|
9. |
To specify
and assign adjudication functions for disposal of
pending notices |
This is specified in light of Section 97 of the
Finance Act, 2022. |
|
|
10. |
To provide for
section 124 functions
to
be performed
by certain officers in relation to
particular types of cases |
A limitation
/ condition has been specified.
Where entry under the Act and assessment is already made, but case
falls outside the purview
of section 110AA by virtue of there being no
differential duty
involved, after causing inquiry or investigation the
report along with documents would be transferred to the officer specified in
the notification
for
further required
action, for the purposes
of section 124. |
4.
Previous circulars/instructions stand modified to the above extent. Suitable action(s) should be initiated/taken immediately in the
light of above changes/provisions of law, and the
Customs Act, 1962.
Difficulties, if any in implementation be brought to the notice
of Board.
F. No.450/72/2021-Cus. IV