No Reply to Drawback Queries Results in “Zero Claim” Status in Final Processing

[Public Notice No. 21/2018 dated 16.08.2018]

Subject: Pending drawback claims due to non-submission of Replies

Attention of all the exporters, Customs Brokers, other stakeholders and members of the trade is invited to Public Notice No. 35/2018 dated 29.05.2018 issued by the Commissioner, ACC Export vide which the exporters as per list attached as Annexure A (hereinafter referred as the 'Exporters') were asked to submit the requisite replies of queries raised by this office. In this regard, it is once again reiterated that this office aims at disbursing drawback claims of the exporters as soon as EGM is filed with respect to a Shipping Bill. However, in some categories of cases disbursal of drawback is held up for want of appropriate replies to the queries from Exporters. Therefore, it is in interest of the Exporters to check the status of their drawback claim once the EGM is filed with respect to a Shipping Bill. Further it is pertinent to mention here that the status of drawback claim against any Shipping Bill can be checked through ICEGATE.

2. Vide the above Public Notice, attention of the Exporters/CHAs/ Other stakeholders was invited to large pendency of drawback claims pending in the Exporters Queue (Query Queue) for the Shipping Bills (LEO Period from 01.07.2017 to 30.09.2017) on account of non-submission of replies/relevant documents/declarations. It was requested to the Exporters/ CHAs/ Other stakeholders vide aforementioned Public Notice No. 35/18 dated 29.05.2018 to submit the Self Declaration and other documents/ clarifications as per Circular 32/2017 dated 27.07.2017 and/or 34/2017 dated 09.08.2017 as per query raised within 15 days from the issuance of the Public Notice.

3. The Exporters with respect to the Shipping Bills mentioned in the list annexed as Annexure A have not submitted any reply to the query raised by this office despite adequate opportunities provided to them to submit the reply. In fact, it is the responsibility of the Exporters/CHAs/Other stakeholders to check the status of their drawback claim against a shipping bill through ICEGATE and if any query is raised by the drawback section, they should submit their reply after viewing the status/query in the ICEGATE. In the cases annexed as Annexure A, the Exporters/CHAs/ Other stakeholders neither came forward on their own to submit reply after checking the status on ICEGATE nor did they avail the opportunity provided by the Public Notice No. 35/2018 dated 29.05.2018 for submission of replies. As these drawback claims are pending since long and no response is received from the Exporters/CHAs/Other stakeholders despite providing adequate opportunities to submit their replies, all the drawback claims pertaining to the shipping bills annexed as annexure A are processed as ZERO in absence of the requisite documents/clarifications/self-declarations.

However, the Exporters can file the supplementary claims as per Rule 16 of the Customs and Central Excise Duty Drawback Rules, 2017 along with the requisite documents/clarifications/self-declarations once the drawback claim is processed as ZERO.

This issues with the approval of Commissioner.

C.No. VIII/ACE/DBK/IGST Helpdesk/156/2017/3695-3702