COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS (EXPORT) JAWAHARLAL NEHRU CUSTOM HOUSE, NHAVA SHEVA TAL. - URAN, DIST. RAIGAD F.

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1 1 COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS (EXPORT) JAWAHARLAL NEHRU CUSTOM HOUSE, NHAVA SHEVA TAL. - URAN, DIST. RAIGAD F. No. S/12-Gen.-02/12-13 AM(X) Date: MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF PTFC HELD ON The monthly meeting of Permanent Trade Facilitation Committee (PTFC) was held on in the Conference Hall at the 5 th floor of the Custom House. The meeting was presided over by the Commissioner of Customs (Export), JNCH. The following members attended the meeting: No. 01 Shankar Shinde, Raigad Chamber of Commerce & Industry 02 George Joseph, Vice President (BCHAA) No 15 K Ramakrishnan 16 Subhash Rajkumar 03 R Rajasekhar, Vice President 17 Selva Fernando 04 Mohan Nihalani 18 A. Ravi Kumar, Dy director, TEXPROCIL 05 Sarfaraz Ahmed Khan, Raigad Chamber 19 Archana Roy, Dy Manager (Exim) of Commerce & Industry 06 Ashish Pednekar Maccia 20 Philomena Pereira, BCHAA 07 L. S. Tadadikar Ameya CFS 21 Desai Milan 08 A.B. Buge, JNPT 22 Ajit Kumar Singh, ULA CFS ( Manager) 09 Pankaj Shah, Vice President (BCHAA) 23 D.L. Thakur, 10 R.K. Rubin 24 Shyamali Banarjee, GEO, Jt. Director 11 K. S. Shetty 25 V. K. Agarwal, G M (ONIDA) 12 Paresh Shah 26 Rishi Kant Tiwari, FIEO, (Management Executive) 13 K.C. Mishra, CFS D Node 14 Omprakash Agrawal, MACCIA 2. The following officers from the Department side attended the meeting:- No. 01 Shri Rajiv Kapoor, Addl. Commissioner of Customs (Export) 02 Shri Gyan Sarvar, Addl. Commissioner of Customs (Export) 03 Shri Pankaj Bodkhe, Joint Commissioner of Customs (Export) 04 Smt. Chintha Anna Isaac, Dy. Commissioner of Customs AM (X) 05 Shri Somesh Chander, DC No 06 Shri S. K. Yadav, DC 07 Shri Anand Kumar, AC 08 Shri. Anil Chaudhary, A.O 09 Shri Ram Milan, E.O.

2 2 3. The Commissioner welcomed all the members. The members thanked the Commissioner for the timely receipt of the Minutes of the previous PTFC meeting held on The PTFC meeting proceeded as under:- 4. The following old points that were kept open in the last PTFC meeting held on were taken up for the discussion:- 4.1 Point: The Raigad Chamber of Commerce had earlier (PTFC meeting held on ) requested that Goods may be allowed to be examined even without Delivery Order. Reply:The Commissioner stated that as the request had been made on the basis of Circular/Facility Notice no.12/2010 dated of the Chennai Customs and because the CFS Association had opposed the request, the matter has been referred to the Chennai Customs to clarify whether the said Circular was still operative and whether the same had faciliated the smooth functioning of the Customs as well as the trade or otherwise. The Commissioner assured that a final decision will be taken in this regard after a reply is received from Chennai Customs in this regard. Point Open (ADC/AM) 4.2 Point: The point raised in earlier PTFC meetings that the current EDI system selects the packages randomly for examination however it fails to differentiate between a package and a container, as a result of which the goods from several containers are picked up for examination pertaining to a single shipping bill, was taken up for discussion. Reply: The Commissioner stated that this Commissionerate has already taken up the matter with the DG (Systems) however no reply has been received. Another reminder has been sent to the System Manager on to ascertain the position from DG Systems. 4.3 Point: The point of frequent labor problems, theft and undue charge of fees of Rs 100/- for any amendment in the shipping bills in the shed, raised by Shri Paresh Shah in the meeting held on which was left open in the earlier PTFC was also taken up. Reply: The Commissioner requested Shri K.C.Mishra, Manager, CWC to address the issue as it pertained to them. Shri K.C.Mishra, Manager, Dronagiri, stated that they have already initiated several steps and have held meetings with the labor contractor and assured the members for a solution within a month. As regards the frequent thefts, he stated that they have re-positioned the CCTV cameras, their senior Officers are taking rounds everyday and they have even requested the local Police to conduct surprise checks. Shri Paresh Shah then stated that although CWC Dronagiri had stopped collecting Rs. 100/- as amendment fees however they have not issued a formal official order to that effect.to this, Shri K.C.Mishra assured that the order will be issued immediately. As regards the infrastructure in Dronagiri, Shri K.C.Mishra stated that a fund of Rupees one crore has been allotted and work has already begun in the shed to improve the false ceiling, flooring etc. He also assured to improve the sanitation facilities. The members then stated that the CWC has been giving such promises for quite some time however nothing concrete has come out. They suggested that the Labor contractor may be changed.

3 3 To this the Commissioner replied that since due Government procedure has been followed for appointing a contractor hence changing the contractor was not a feasible idea but he assured the members that the infrastructure will be inspected by the Audit team of the Custom House and the CWC Management will be requested to improve the shortcomings,if any. 4.4 Point: The point earlier raised by Shri Shanker Shinde, Member, Raigad Chamber of Commerce, in the meetings held on and point that the system is not updated for certain newly added items to the VKGUY scheme hence their members are facing problems in filing shipping bills. Reply: The Commissioner stated that the system has not been updated for certain newly added items to the VKGUY scheme and no changes have been made in the system yet and the issue is pending with DG/System. 4.5 Shri V. K Agarwal, GM (Onida) raised an issue in the previous PTFC meeting that the drawback under section 74 is not being sanctioned on time and there is a considerable delay of five to six months. Reply: Commissioner stated that sometimes the delay is on account of replies to the queries not being submitted on time by the exporters. In the their case, the Commissioner informed the member that all their drawback claims for the year 2011 have been disbursed and drawback claims for the year 2012 will be sanctioned soon. The member thanked the Commissioner for the same. 4.6 Smt. Shyamali Benerjee, Joint Director FIEO had earlier stated in the PTFC meeting held on that some of their members have stated that drawback under 75 also is not being sanctioned on time. Reply: The Commissioner stated that the issue has been resolved and almost all their claims have been sanctioned. Smt. Shyamali Benerjee also thanked the Commissioner on behalf of the concerned members. 4.7 Shri Paresh Shah had earlier raised a point that in this Speedy CFS, their exporter was penalized under 117 of the Custom Act and fined Rs. 1000/- for change in port amendment. He stated that seeking an amendment/change in port is not an offence hence the exporter should not have been penalized. Reply: The Commissioner stated that instructions have been issued to the DC/Speedy CFS to take lenient view in the future in such genuine cases of amendment. 4.8 Shri R. Rajshekhar, Vice President, UNIPHOS requested in the PTFC held on that factory self sealed containers where being delayed even when the system gives NO EXAMINATION ORDER. He had requested that such containers should be segregated and allowed to move on priority basis as is being done for refer and on-wheels containers. Reply: The Commissioner replied that it is not possible for the department to allow jumping of the queue because this will create chaos and will be unfair to the other exporters, besides it will violate `First-In-First-Out` system being followed at present.

4 4 5.The following Fresh points were also taken up for discussion 5.1. Shri Mohan Nihalani, President had earlier vide letter dated , submitted a point that some Officers were denying the Exporters the facility of prior exports and were insisting on the production of the original DFIA even though the para 4.12, Foreign Policy permits the same. He requested that instructions may be issued that exports may be permitted without insisting on the production of the DFIA licence. Reply- The Commissioner replied that the request has been accepted and instructions have already been issued on to the officers to strictly follow the procedure laid down in para 4.12 of the Foreign Trade Policy The following points were received on from The Cotton Textiles Export Promotion council (TEXPROCIL). a) Pending Drawback Claims of M/s. Shankesh Industries b) Pending Drawback Claim of M/s. Vitthal Textiles Pvt. Ltd. c) Problem faced by Exporters at JNPT while operating under EPCG Scheme. d) Electronic Transmission of DFIAs to JNPT Customs Reply The Commissioner requested the Texprocil members that they should submit their Agenda Points well in advance so that the Department is able to give a suitable reply. 5.2 a) and b)---the Commissioner then replied that the pending Drawback claims are usually on account of some query raised by the officers. The members then stated that their members were aware that a query has been raised but were not aware of the nature of the query. To this, the Commissioner replied that the exact nature of the query is forwarded online to the exporter He assured that the matter will be looked into. Point Open (ADC/Dbk) The Commissioner then informed the members that in the months of June and July, the EDI system had released a large number of shipping bills that had been hanging in the system. A special drive was initiated and around 1,86,000 s/bills were cleared in the relevant period. 5.2 c) The requests of the members that the bills of entries pertaining to part shipment under EPCG may be assessed finally was denied by the Commissioner because usually the machinery under import in EPCG licence is split hence it becomes difficult for the assessing officers to ascertain as to what quantity is being cleared or is pending. In any case, after the complete machinery/plant has been imported, the bond is cancelled hence the members should not have any objection to Provisional Assessment of partial imports. 5.2 d) The members stated that the DFIA licences of one of their members was not getting registered. The commissioner replied that majority of the licence provided in the list were registered. The members then stated that many times the DGFT says that the licence has been transferred to Customs yet the same is not available on the Customs site. In such a situation, the exporter has to run from pillar to post for no fault of his. The FIEO members then stated that the problem has been brought to the notice of the Commerce Secretary also. To this the Commissioner replied that the licences are not transferred from the ICEGATE to the concerned port on account of validation whereas the same shows as transmitted in the DGFT site. The commissioner assured the members that the matter will be taken up with the DG Systems.

5 5 6. The Commissioner then invited the attention of all the members towards Public Notice No.50/2012 on the subject of providing 24X7 Customs Facilities for clearance of export goods. He requested that the members may go through the said Public Notice and state if they have any difficulty with regards to the implementation of the same from He also stated that a meeting with the CFS`s has already been conducted and they have assured full cooperation and similar cooperation was desired from the members. 7. The commissioner also appraised the members of the issue of Facility Notice No.51/2012 dated wherein the months of September and October has been ear marked for clearance of P.D.Bond/Test Bond/End Use Bond/ Warehousing Bond/ EPCG/DEEC Bonds/Dbk claims/igm/egm closures which are pending for more than six months. He requested that all the exporters/importers should approach the concerned Officers with requisite documents and avail this facility. The meeting ended with vote of thanks to the chair. The next PTFC meeting will be held in the same venue on at 11 A.M. This issue with the approval of Commissioner of Customs (Export) - sd/- - (RAJIV KAPOOR) Addl. Commissioner of Customs Appraising Main (Export) To All concerned, by . Copy submitted to:- I) Chief Commissioner of Customs, Zone II. II) Copy to: Commissioner of Customs (Import) I) Systems Manager, EDI II) III) IV) All Addl./Joint Commissioners (Exports ), JNCH All DCs/ACs (Export), JNCH Copy for information and wide circulation to : All Associations with a request to inform their members to view the minutes of the meeting on the website V) Copy to all the members of the trade through . VI) Copy to master file