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Circular No.16/2022-Customs
F. No.450/155/2020-Cus. IV(Pt)
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
(Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs)
*****
Room No.227B, North Block,
New Delhi, dated 29
th
of August, 2022.
To,
All Principal Chief Commissioners/ Chief Commissioners of Customs/ Customs
(Preventive) / Customs & Central Tax
All Principal Commissioners/ Commissioners of Customs/ Customs (Preventive),
All Principal Director Generals/ Director Generals under CBIC.
Madam/Sir,
Subject: Faceless Assessment – Standard Examination Orders through RMS -
Phase 1, Part 1 reg.
Reference is invited to para 3.6 of Circular No.14/2021-Customs dated 7
th
July
2021, wherein it has been informed that Board has decided to introduce RMS generated
uniform examination orders at all Customs stations across the country. It may be recalled
that, Board, vide Circular No. 45/2020-Customs dated 12
th
October 2020, had requested
the National Assessment Centres (NACs) to review the examination orders given by
different FAG officers in the same situation and streamline and standardise them, so as
to avoid needless variations in practice and thereby obviate delays.
2. Based on the inputs by NAC, National Customs Targeting Centre (NCTC) (former
RMCC) has developed system generated centralized examination orders for Bills of Entry
(BE), in coordination with DG Systems and National Assessment Centers (NACs), based
on various parameters, which is now ready for rollout in phases. This functionality is
expected to enhance the uniformity in examination, and lower the time taken in the
process as well as reduce associated costs.
Phase 1 - Second Check Examination :
3.1 To harmonise the examination orders across FAGs, the Board has decided to
implement system-generated centralized examination orders in a phased manner, in case
of risk-based selection for examination after assessment.
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3.2 To that end, NCTC, in consultation with DG Systems and the respective NACs,
has developed a system wherein standardised examination orders will be centrally
generated by RMS and populated on the corresponding Bill of Entry, based on a host of
risk parameters concerning goods, entities, and countries, relating to that bill.
3.3 The standardized examination orders thus generated by RMS will be visible to
Assessing Officers during the assessment. While these RMS-generated standardised
examination orders will be the new norm, the Assessing officer will have the option of
adding any additional examination instruction/order to the pre-populated RMS-generated
examination order, if necessary.
3.4 According to the new procedure, after processing BE data, RMS will generate a
consolidated examination order for each selected BE based on potential risks. An RMS-
generated examination order would include the following main points: (i) % of containers
to be examined, (ii) selected area/part (s) in a given container and % of goods in the
selected area/part (s) to be examined, (iii) Item level instructions and (iv) additional
examination instruction, if any.
Standardized Examination Order Format :
4.1 While the BE is selected for examination depending on risk associated with
various items in a BE, the examination will depend on the nature of the cargo and mode
of packing. Hence, some standardization is adopted for different situations.
FCL Cargo :
4.2 For FCL cargo, selection for the examination will be at two levels. First, the
selection of the containers and then the area/part selected within those selected
containers. For the sake of uniformity, the container has been divided into five
areas/parts, for an easy identification and selection of areas for examination, as depicted
below:
Front of
container
1 2 3 4 5
Back of
container
4.3 One area/part 1 (i.e. front) and other area/part (s) (i.e., 2,3,4 & 5), as may be
applicable in each case based on potential risks, will be selected randomly by system. A
specified % examination, based on potential risks, will be required to be done from these
two or more areas/parts of the container. Only in the case of 100 % examination order,
the whole container would be examined.
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4.4 To illustrate, a typical system-generated examination order that will be displayed
on BE will be as below:
“Check Seal No. of all containers and cut the seal of selected containers in your
presence. Examine 10 % of the respective areas/parts indicated in respect of each
selected container and follow CCRs, where necessary (other than ISO Liquid/Gas
container and Dangerous cargo). Verify declared description, quantity and
specification. Selected Container: KOCU4150113-Selected Area: 1 & 4”
In this example, one container i.e. KOCU4150113 has been selected for examination;
two areas/parts within this container (i.e. 1 and 4) have been selected for 10%
examination by shed/examining officers in each of the two areas/parts.
4.5 For LCL cargo, bulk cargo, and shipments through air and land, where container
number is not available, only the percentage of goods to be examined will be
communicated to shed/examining officers for physical examination, along with item
specific examination order.
4.6 Furthermore, a container selected for scanning through CSM (Container Scanning
Module) and marked suspicious by the Container Scanning Division (CSD) will have a
separate related examination order as per the extant practice/order of the local customs
station. CSM-related examination order will complement the RMS generated examination
order for a consignment.
Bill of Entry flow :
5. The flow of a Bill of Entry, where examination is required, and the associated RMS-
generated examination order in different scenarios are outlined below, in case of selection
of a BE for second check examination :
a. In case of a ‘Assessment and Examination’ - an examination order will be
generated by RMS but the Bill of Entry will be routed to the shed through an FAG.
While the assessing officer will have the flexibility to add any other relevant
examination order/instruction, any such additional examination instruction should
be given only in exceptional cases when deemed necessary, with the approval of
the respective DC/AC.
b. In case of a ‘Examination only’ - the Bill of Entry will directly flow to a
shed/examining officer for necessary examination as per RMS-generated
examination order.
c. In case of a ‘Assessment only’ - the assessing officer will have the possibility to
give an examination order only in exceptional cases, when deemed necessary,
with the approval of the AC/DC.
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Manner of implementation by field officers :
6. The officers in the field formations need to follow the following instructions in respect
of examination of goods:
i. FAG officers will give any additional examination order/instruction, if necessary, to
complement the RMS generated examination order, only in exceptional cases. As
this model will be implemented in a phased manner, FAG officers will need to see
whether there is already an RMS-generated examination order for a Bill of Entry
and proceed accordingly.
ii. Shed/examining officers will strictly follow the RMS-generated examination orders
and physically examine the selected containers and the relevant selected
areas/parts as specified in the examination order. Additionally, Shed/examining
officers may also examine any other goods or area/part of the container, as may
be necessary, as per other examination orders/instructions given by the FAG
officer and/or CSD officer or for the verification of CCRs, in appropriate cases or
based on the nature, package and size of cargo.
iii. Any deviation from RMS-generated examination orders will require the prior
approval of the Joint Commissioner/Additional Commissioner designated by the
Commissioner concerned, except for the situations described herein above, and
such deviation will have to be recorded in the examination report fed by the
examining officers in the System. The Commissioners have to regularly monitor
such cases at their level, so as to ensure that such deviations are minimal
and justified in their nature.
Part 1 of Phase 1 :
7.1 This procedure will be implemented for Second Check Bill of Entry in a phased
manner, starting with one group of commodities and will thereafter be extended to all
other goods incrementally, by adopting a modular approach.
7.2 Accordingly, it has been decided that the above procedure will come into effect
for goods covered under Assessment Group 4 in all the Customs Stations from the 5th
of September, 2022. A Systems advisory will be issued for seamless implementation of
this new functionality for systems-generated examination orders.
8. Difficulties, if any in the implementation may be brought to the notice of the Board.
The Hindi version follows.
Yours faithfully,
(Ananth Rathakrishnan)
Deputy Secretary to the Government of India
