Manual Filing only when EDI Filing not Possible – Permission Authority Pushed up to Commissioner Level

[CBEC Instruction No. 401/81/2011-Cus.III dated 12th May 2011]

Subject: Manual filing and processing of bills of entry / shipping bills - stringent checks required to prevent misuse.

Attention is invited to instructions issued vide Board's instruction of even number dated 4.5.2011 on the subject mentioned above.

2. Paragraph 2 of the said instruction is hereby omitted and the subsequent paragraphs 3, 4 and 5 are renumbered as 2, 3 and 4. Further, the renumbered paragraph 2 shall read as under:

"2. The Board has taken a serious note of the cases of misuse detected on account of manual documentation as well as of casual manner in which this facility is being extended, which is prone to be detrimental to revenue. Accordingly, to redress the issue it has been decided that manual processing and clearance of import/export goods shall be allowed only in exceptional and genuine cases when it is not feasible to process the import/export documents through EDI. Further, in accordance with Sections 46 and 50 of the Customs Act, 1962, this authority shall be exercised only by the Commissioner of Customs. It is reiterated that the facility of manual processing of import/exports documents shall be provided as an exception to the rule of EDI processing and whenever granted it shall be withdrawn no sooner EDI processing is feasible."

3. The other contents of the said instruction shall remain unchanged.