Customs Warehousing Now on Online Mode through Centralised
ICEGATE covering all Field Formations
·
Transfer of Warehoused Goods to
Another Person and/or Another Warehouse
·
Public Warehouse Licensing
Regulations, 2016, the Private Warehouse Licensing Regulations, 2016 and the
Special Warehouse Licensing Regulations, 2016 that provide for licensing of
Public, Private and Special Warehouses under Section 57, 58 and 58A of the
Customs Act, 1962, respectively. The Circular 26/2016-Customs dated 09.06.2016,
as amended, prescribes an application Form for obtaining a license for a
Customs Bonded Warehouse.
[CBIC Circular No. 19/2024-Customs dated 30th
September 2024]
Subject:
Digitization of Customs Bonded Warehouse procedures relating to obtaining
Warehouse License, Bond to Bond Movement of warehoused good, and uploading of
Monthly Returns.
To
facilitate ease of doing business in respect of the Customs Bonded Warehouses, CBIC
has introduced a Warehouse Module on ICEGATE to enable -
(i) online
filing of application for obtaining a Warehouse Licence;
(ii) online
submission and processing of requests for transfer of warehoused goods to
another person and/or another warehouse; and
(iii) uploading
Monthly returns for the Customs Bonded Warehouse.
2. The
Directorate General of Systems (DG Systems) has issued detailed User Manuals
for providing necessary guidance to the members of the trade as well as the
Departmental officers, that can be accessed on https://www.icegate.gov.in/guidelines/warehouse-licensing
https://www.icegate.gov. in/guidelines/warehousewarehouse-transfer and
https://www. icegate.gov.in/guidelines/warehouse-monthly
returns respectively. An overview of the processes enabled is explained in
following paragraph s.
2.1.
Warehouse Licensing Procedure:
Reference
is invited to the Public Warehouse Licensing Regulations, 2016, the Private
Warehouse Licensing Regulations, 2016 and the Special Warehouse Licensing
Regulations, 2016 that provide for licensing of Public, Private and Special Warehouses
under Section 57, 58 and 58A of the Customs Act, 1962, respectively. The
Circular 26/2016-Customs dated 09.06.2016, as amended, prescribes an
application Form for obtaining a license for a Customs Bonded Warehouse.
2.1.1.
This process has now been
digitized wherein the authorised signatory of an
applicant can log in to the ICEGATE portal and submit the application online
along with accompanying documents. The application once submitted would be received
by the proper officer linked to the Customs jurisdiction filed by the applicant.
The application will then be processed by Customs in the back end.
2.1.2.
A functionality for raising
any query by the proper officer on this online application has also been built
in the module. Further, the applicant/authorised
signatory can respond to such queries received from the officer on the module
itself. The final decision to accept or reject the application for licensing
shall be processed at the back-end. Once the application for license is
accepted, the officer can generate a warehouse code online, and the license
would be forwarded to the applicant.
2.1.3.
It is noted that in some
Custom s Zones, the work of Customs warehouse licensing is handled only at the Commissionerates specifically designated by the Zone.
Therefore, all Customs Zones shall issue Public Notice, clearly specifying the
port code(s) of the jurisdiction(s) for receiving and processing warehouse
license applications filed on ICEGATE. For example, Delhi Customs Zone may
specify INDEL4 as the appropriate port code. The applicant will, accordingly,
fill-in the port code specified by the jurisdictional Zone in the application
for Warehouse license. Further, ICES shall create a separate role for Customs
officers for handling warehousing license related work that would be linked to
the port code specified by the Zone. Once an application for obtaining a
license is filed using the port code specified by the Zone, the application
would move to the officer of that port having the role created referred above.
2.1.4.
For further details of the
Warehouse licensing module, the users are advised to refer the User Manual
available at https://www.icegate.gov.in/guidelines
/warehouse-licensing.
2.2.
Transfer of Warehoused Goods
to another per son and/or another warehouse:
Broadly
, the Warehouse Module caters to online filing
of request and its processing for the following three scenarios-
Case
I: Change in ownership without change in the Warehouse;
The
designed workflow takes care of aspects related to recording relevant
particulars of Seller and Buyer, validation and reconciliation of quantity and value
of goods under transfer, furnishing warehousing (triple duty) bond by the
buyer, acceptance of request by the proper officer etc. Detailed step-by-step
workflow in each of these scenarios is enclosed
at Annex-A.
2.2.1.
Once operational, the module will
track and keep record of any material imported under an Into-Bond Bill of
Entry, including its current location and ownership details through the
successive transfers to different warehouses and/or owners. It
will also monitor goods flowing into and out of a warehouse
in precise terms, thus facilitating filing and processing of monthly returns.
2.2.2.
Regulation 3 of the Warehouse Goods (Removal) Regulations, 2016 prescribes a physical
Form for transfer of goods from one warehouse to another warehouse. The Form
provides for inter alia recording of
physical despatch of goods from the originating
warehouse and recording of physical receipt of goods at the destination
warehouse. The said recordings are required to be signed by the licensee or the
bond officer, as the case may be. While the module on ICEGATE will capture all
relevant transaction details in the ICES database, the aforesaid physical Form
will also be used to monitor and close physical movement of goods. The said
physical Form will be integrated with module in due course. Till such time, it
shall continue to be in force and is required to be filled manually in addition
to the online modality provided by the module.
2.3. Monthly
Returns:
Regulation
11 of the Warehouse (Custody and Handling of Goods) Regulations,2016 requires a
licensee to file monthly returns. Board vide
Circular No. 25/2016-Customs dated 08.06.2016, as amended by Circular No . 04/2023-Customs dated 21.02.2023, has prescribed filing
of two monthly returns by licensees as per Form A and Form B:
(i)
Form-A: a return with information on
the receipt, storage, operations and removal of goods in the month.
(ii)
Form-B: a return with information on
the warehoused goods for which the specified warehousing period is expiring in
the month .
2.3.1.
The Warehouse module shall enable uploading
scanned copies (in PDF format) of these Monthly Returns on ICEGATE
. Also, corresponding officers would be able to download these scanned
documents for necessary action at their end. The Warehouse owner/authorized representatives
should carefully file the details in their monthly return so as to enable
proper reconciliation of warehoused goods.
2.3.2. The
filing of these Monthly Returns using Webform s would be made available on
ICEGATE in Phase 2.
2.4.
Attention is invited to Section 59(3) of the Customs Act, 1962 which requires
furnishing of such security, as may be prescribed, in addition to execution of
the warehousing bond. Accordingly, the requirement of security has been
prescribed und er Circular 21/20 16-Customs dated 31.06.20 16, as amended. Para
5 of the said Circular mandate s that the security to be furnished by the
importer or owner of goods shall be furnished at the Port of Import where the
bill of entry for warehousing was filed. Accordingly, it is reiterated that the
proper officer at the Port of Import must ensure submission of the triple duty
bond and security in terms of Section 59 of the Customs Act read with Circular
2 1/20 16-Customs dated 31.05.2016 (as amended).
3.
The users of the Warehouse
Module i.e. trade and officers alike, are requested to
go through the User Manuals issued in this regard to familiarize themselves
with the necessary steps to be followed. The User Manuals serve as a guide that
depicts all stages in an easy- to-understand manner aided by
screenshots/pictures of the module interface. This is meant to handhold the
users through the different stages of the processes.
3.1.
Applicants/Authorized
Signatories/Licensees facing any difficulties in the access or use of the
Warehouse Module can email their grievance to icegatehelpdesk@icegate.gov.in
for suitable redressal. Customs officers facing similar issues may email it to saksham.seva @icegate.gov.in for
expeditious resolution.
4. Chief
Commissioners of Customs are directed to issue necessary Public Notices to
specify the port code(s) as envisaged at Para 2.1.3 above as well as assist in
on boarding members of the trade and other users onto the Warehouse Module on
ICEGATE.
F. No.
484/03/2015-part 1
Transfer
of warehoused goods to another person and/or another warehouse
(Step-by-step process flow on ICEGATE)
In
reference to transfer of warehoused good to another owner and/or another
warehouse, different scenarios need separate workflows and case-specific checks
and validations. Following are the different scenarios for Inter/Intra
Warehouse movement of Goods:
Intra
warehouse- Change of Ownership without change in warehouse
Inter
warehouse -
o
Change in Ownership of goods
or
o
No change in Ownership of
goods.
2.
Supplier, who owns the
warehoused goods, shall initiate an application in a Form available on ICEGATE,
for intent of the proposed sale/transfer of goods, and mark/send it to the
buyer. Supplier as well as buyer both are required to be registered on ICEGATE.
The following details have to be entered by the supplier at the time of filing
the said Form:
o
Details of the goods (intended
to be sold/transferred) and the details of corresponding into-bond Bill of
Entry (Item-wise).
o
Details of buyer including its
IEC. It may
be noted that IEC shall be mandatory, as the buyer will eventually have to file
ex-bond Bill of Entry or ex-bond Shipping Bill. ICEGATE registration shall be
mandatory for buyer. IEC validation will be done with ICEGATE.
3.
The aforementioned application
of supplier shall be displayed on the dashboard of the buyer with an option to
accept/reject. This would be treated as "Transfer of Ownership of warehoused
goods" for the purpose of customs ledger of warehoused goods. Once the
buyer accepts the said request, screen will be made available to the buyer on ICEGATE
for submitting the Triple Duty Bond Number and Date as generated by ICES.
For the purpose of generation of Triple Duty Bond
details at ICES, the Buyer needs to submit the Triple Duty Bond physically for
acceptance to the officer at the Port of Import as is being done presently.
Once the bond is accepted, the officer makes the entry of Bond details in ICES
to generate a Bond number in ICES. The same Bond number and date needs to be
entered by the Buyer at the time of accepting the aforesaid application of the
supplier.
4.
Once submitted after
acceptance of the buyer, the Bond details submitted by the Buyer on TCEGATE
portal would be validated by ICES and the Form will move for approval to the
officer in-charge of the warehouse. The officer may approve, and thus allow the
change in ownership. At this stage, the triple duty bond of the seller would be
recredited and the bond for the buyer would be debited and the Buyer's
acceptance would be intimated to the Seller. Details of the transaction along
with details of the credit and debit of triple-duty bonds will also be
intimated to the officer at the Port of import in real time.
Case 2: Change in warehouse with no
change in ownership
5.
Supplier shall initiate an
application in the Form available on ICEGATE, with the intent of the physical
transportation of warehoused goods. The following details need to be entered by
the supplier at the time of filing the said Form:
o
Details of the goods (intended
to be transferred), details of corresponding into-bond Bill of Entry
(Item-wise), destination warehouse details, and space certificate of
destination warehouse.
o
In this case, the details of buyer
would be the same as that of supplier.
o
Soft Copy of Transshipment
Bond and transit risk insurance policy covering the duty involved.
o
Transshipment Bond details
available in ICES.
For generation of Transhipment Bond details in
ICES, the supplier needs to submit the said bond physically for acceptance to
customs officer of source warehouse. Once the bond is accepted, the officer
makes the entry of Bond details in ICES to generate a bond number in ICES.
6.
The aforementioned Form fi led
by the supplier shall be displayed on the dashboard of the buyer (which in this
case is the same as the seller) with an opt ion to accept/reject
. Since in this case, the seller and buyer are the same, no new triple
duty bond is to be submitted, however the user would need to upload the copy of
the space certificate issued by the destination
warehouse where the goods are to be transferred.
7. Once
submitted after acceptance by the buyer (same as seller), the Form shall move
to the officer-in-charge of the source warehouse where the goods are lying, who
may approve or reject the Form after reviewing the necessary documents. Further,
once this Form is approved, the transhipment bond of the seller would be
debited electronically. The goods may be transferred physically to the
destination warehouse. Role of the Officer shall remain the same.
8. Subsequent
to the acceptance of the Form by officer-in-charge of the source warehouse, the same would move to the concerned
officer-in-charge of the destination warehouse who would be required to update
the receipt of goods by providing confirmation ofthe
goods received, on ICEGATE, thereby completing the transfer. Since this is
updated by the officer, the transhipment bond would be re-credited at the same
time. The officer in charge of the destination warehouse would provide
confirmation of the receipt of goods based on the information received from the
warehouse licensee as well as based upon physical inspection, in case of
sensitive goods, as may be required. Bond will be re-credited once officer confrrms at the destination warehouse. Details of the
transaction wil l also be intimated to the officer at
the Port of import in real time.
Case 3: Change in warehouse as well
as change in ownership of goods
9. Supplier
shall initiate an application in the Form available on ICEGATE for intent of
the proposed sale on its dashboard. The following details needs to be entered
by the supplier at the time of raising the said request:
o
Details of the goods (intended to he
sold/transferred), details of corresponding into bond Bill of Entry
(Item-wise), and destination warehouse details.
o
Details of buyer, including its IEC.
o
Soft copy of transshipment bond and
transit risk insurance policy covering the duty involved in the Warehouse Goods
being moved; if the seller does not provide this, the same would be required to
be provided by the buyer.
o
Transhipment Bond details available
in ICES; if the seller does not provide this, the same would be
required to be provided by the buyer.
10. The
aforementioned Form of the supplier shall be displayed on the dashboard of the
Buyer (recipient) with an option to accept or reject. As part of the process of
accepting the form, the buyer shall provide the following:
o
Soft copy of transshipment bond and
transit risk insurance policy covering the duty involved in the Warehouse Goods
being moved, where the supplier has not provided these documents.
o
Transshipment Bond details available
in ICES, where the supplier has not provided these details.
o
Triple Duty Bond details available
in ICES.
o
Space certificate obtained from
destination warehouse.
After
submission of the details by buyer and supplier as above, ICES would validate
the Triple Duty Bond details submitted by the buyer and Transshipment Bond
details submitted by the Buyer or supplier, as the case may be, on ICEGATE
portal.
For
the purpose of generation of Triple Duty Bond details in ICES, the buyer needs
to submit the bond physically at the port of import for acceptance. Once it is
accepted and port officer makes entry of bond details in ICES, a bond number is
generated in ICES. Likewise , for generation of
Transshipment Bond details in ICES, the buyer or the seller, as the case may
be, needs to submit the Transshipment Bond physically for acceptance to the
customs officer at the source warehouse. Once the bond is accepted, the officer
makes the entry of Bond details in ICES to generate a Bond number at ICES. The
same Bond number and date needs to be entered by the Buyer or Seller at the
time of filing or accepting the transfer application, as the case may be.
11. Once
submitted by the supplier and accepted by the buyer, the Form will move to the
officer-in-charge at the source warehouse for verification of concerned
documents such as soft copy of space certificate uploaded by the buyer, soft
copy of the transhipment bond along with transit risk insurance policy
submitted by the buyer/seller whoever undertakes the transhipment. The officer
may accept or reject the application. Once verified and accepted, the officer
may approve the transaction allowing the change in ownership.
12. Consequent
to approval of the application at this stage, the triple duty bond of the seller
would be re-credited and the bond for the buyer would be debited.
13.
Lastly, the application would
move into the queue of the officer in-charge of the destination warehouse,
where he would be required to provide confirmation of the receipt of goods,
hence completing the transaction. Further, at this stage, the transshipment
bond given by the buyer or seller would be re-credit ed.
14.
Details of the transaction
along with details of the credit and debit of triple-duty bonds will also be
intimated to the officer at the Port of import in rea l time.