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Circular No. 07/2022-Customs
F. No.450/72/2021-Cus. IV
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
(Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs)
*****
Room No.227B, North Block,
New Delhi, dated 31
st
of March, 2022.
To,
Principal Chief Commissioners/ Chief Commissioners of Customs/ Customs (Preventive)
Principal Chief Commissioners/ Chief Commissioners of Customs & Central Tax
Principal Director Generals/ Director Generals under CBIC
Principal Commissioners/ Commissioners of Customs/ Customs (Preventive)
Principal Commissioners/ Commissioners of Customs & Central Tax
(All under CBIC)
Madam/Sir,
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 - reg.
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.
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Amendments
in the
Customs Act,
1962
Extract from Explanatory Memorandum
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. 21/2022 Cus. (NT)
dt 31.03.2022
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. 22/2022 Cus (NT)
dt 31.03.2022
To appoint officers at the
level of Commissioner of
Commissioner shall assign functions
in terms of section 5(1B).
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Sr. Notification No.
and date
Purpose in brief Clarification
Customs and below till
AC/DC for the purposes
of carrying out audit
under section 99A of
Customs Act.
3. 23/2022 Cus. (NT)
dt 31.03.2022
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. 24/2022 Cus. (NT)
dt 31.03.2022
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. 25/2022 Cus. (NT)
dt 31.03.2022
To appoint officers at the
level Principal Director
General and below till
AD/DD of Revenue
Intelligence.
The jurisdiction is all over India.
6. 26/2022 Cus. (NT) dt
31.03.2022
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. 27/2022 Cus. (NT)
dt 31.03.2022
To appoint officers and
assign functions relating
to Faceless Assessment
Circular / Instruction issued relating to
Faceless Assessment continue.
8. 28/2022 Cus. (NT)
dt 31.03.2022
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. 29/2022 Cus. (NT)
dt 31.03.2022
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. 30/2022 Cus. (NT)
dt 31.03.2022
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
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Sr. Notification No.
and date
Purpose in brief Clarification
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.
5. Hindi Version follows.
Yours faithfully,
(Ananth Rathakrishnan)
Deputy Secretary to the Government of India
dircus@nic.in
