Circular No. 08/2023
F.No. 524/11/2022-STO(TU)
Government of India
Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue
Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs
North Block, New Delhi
Dated: 13.03.2023
To,
All Principal Chief Commissioners/ Chief Commissioners of Customs/Customs (Preventive),
All Principal Chief Commissioners/ Chief Commissioners of Customs and Central Tax
All Principal Commissioners/ Commissioners of Customs/ Customs (Preventive)
All Principal Directors General/Directors General, under CBIC
Madam/ Sir,
Subject: Telecom equipment in the context of notification No. 02/2019- Customs dated
29-01-2019 amending notification No. 57/2017-Customs dated 30.06.3017 - reg
Attention of the field formations is invited to Notification No. 57/2017- Customs
dated 30.06.2017 amended by Notification No. 02/2019-Customs dated 29.01.2019 which,
against tariff items 8517 62 90 and 8517 69 90, gives descriptions of certain goods that are
telecommunication products or equipment.
2. In this context, the Board was apprised that some of these technology related
descriptions, specifically those at (b) to (h), amongst (a) to (h), in the notification, need to be
better understood by all stakeholders for a more effective identification of products and
equipment covered therein.
3. Accordingly, in order to make stakeholders more aware in the matter, and in
consultation with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) -
(a) the identification of products/equipment covered thereunder, at (b) to (h) of the
notification, is illustrated in Annexure -1;
(b) it is decided that, in terms of the Bill of Entry (Electronic Integrated Declaration and
Paperless Processing) Regulations 2018, an identification of products/equipment under
85176290 and 85176990 shall be enabled from the beginning, that is, from the time of filing
of import declarations itself, bringing certainty, for which an alpha numeric code/identifier as
provided for in Annexure -2 will need to be additionally declared in bill of entry by the
importer with effect from 01.04.2023.
4. Suitable Public Notice, etc may kindly be issued for guidance. Difficulty faced, if any,
in implementation may be intimated. The Hindi version follows.
Encl: Annexure -1, 2 & abbreviations list
Varun Koundinya
OSD-Tariff Unit
email: tariffunit-rev@nic.in
Tel:23095557
Annexure -1
Notfn
item
Notification
description
Identification of products/equipment covered
(b) and
(d)
Optical transport
equipment and Optical
Transport Network
products
Machines and apparatus covered include –
i. OTN equipment;
ii. Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexer (DWDM);
iii. Coarse Wavelength Division Multiplexer (CWDM);
iv. Elements of (i), (ii) or (iii) above: ROADM, Booster Amplifiers,
Pre-Amplifiers, Inline Amplifiers, Raman Amplifiers, Mux-
demux, Transponders, Mux-ponders, OADM and Regenerators,
Optical Power Monitoring and Optical Line Protection equipment.
(c) Combination of one or
more of Packet Optical
Transport Product or
Switch (POTP or POTS)
The Machines/apparatus covered under this category include-
i. Optical Line Terminal (OLT) for FTTX (GPON/ EPON/
XGSPON/ 10GEPON/ NG-PON2 / 25GPON / 50GPON etc.);
ii. Optical Network Terminal (ONT) for FTTX (GPON/ EPON/
XGSPON/ 10GEPON/ NG-PON2 / 25GPON / 50GPON etc.).
(e) Internet Protocol (IP)
Radios
The Machines/apparatus covered under this category include -
i. Wi-Fi Access Point Equipment and Wi-Fi Controller ;
ii. Repeaters (RF/RF-over-Optical) & In-Building Solution (IBS)-
Indoor/Outdoor including active and passive Accessories (2G/3G/
4G/5G and onwards);
iii. Wireless Radio Link – (IP/Hybrid) equipment.
(f) Soft switches and Voice
over Internet Protocol
(VoIP) equipment,
namely, VoIP phones,
Media gateways,
Gateway controllers and
Session border
controllers
Card/module or sub-systems converting analog voice signal into digital
packets that are carried over internet protocol use one or more of these
products. Some examples are-
i. Internet Protocol Private Branch Exchange (IP PBX);
ii. IP Multimedia Systems (IMS);
iii. Unified communication systems (UCS).
(g)
Carrier Ethernet
Switches, Packet
Transport Node (PTN)
products, Multiprotocol
Label Switching
Transport Profile
(MPLS-TP) products
The Machines/apparatus covered under these categories include-
i. IP-MPLS Based equipment;
ii. MPLS-TP based equipment;
iii. SDN Based MPLS equipment;
iv. PTN products for Carrier Ethernet Network (CEN) for Access and
Aggregation Network Applications
(h) Multiple Input/Multiple
Output (MIMO) and
Long-Term Evolution
(LTE) products
The Machines/apparatus covered under these categories include-
i. 4G(LTE) products and their Elements, namely- eNode B, RRH,
CU, DU, RU, BBU, EPC, MME, SGW, PGW, HSS, IMS,
Network In a Box (NIB), 4G CPE, etc.;
ii. 5G products and its Elements, namely- gNodeB, RRH, CU, DU,
RU, BBU, 5GC, IMS, Network In a Box (NIB), 5G CPE, etc.;
iii. 4G and 5G enabled NB IoT devices;
iv. Equipment incorporating technologies beyond 5G.
Annexure -2
Identifier Product/equipment against tariff heading 85176290 or 85176990
A Wrist wearable devices (Commonly known as smart watches)
MAA001 WWD-smart watches
B&D Optical Transport Equipment & Optical Transport Network (OTN)
Products in item (b) & (d) of notification
TEB001 OTE-ROADM
TEB002 OTE-Booster Amplifiers
TEB003 OTE-Pre-Amplifiers
TEB004 OTE-Inline Amplifiers
TEB005 OTE-Mux-Demux
TEB006 OTE-Transponders
TEB007 OTE-Muxponders
TEB008 OTE-Raman Amplifiers
TEB009 OTE-OADM
TEB010 OTE-Regenerators
TEB011 OTE-Optical Power Monitoring
TEB012 OTE-Optical Line Protection
TEB999 OTE-Others
C Combination of one or more of Packet Optical Transport Product or
Switch (POTP or POTS) in item (c) of notification
(C1) Optical Line Terminal
TEC101 OLT-GPON
TEC102 OLT-EPON
TEC103 OLT-XGSPON
TEC104 OLT-10GEPON
TEC105 OLT-NG-PON2
TEC106 OLT-25GPON
TEC107 OLT-50GPON
TEC199 OLT-Others
(C2) Optical Network Terminal/Unit
TEC201 ONT-GPON
TEC202 ONT-EPON
TEC203 ONT-XGSPON
TEC204 ONT-10GEPON
TEC205 ONT-NG-PON2
TEC206 ONT-25GPON
TEC207 ONT-50GPON
TEC299 ONT-Others
E Internet Protocol Radios in item (e) of notification
TEE001 IPR-WiFi Access Point Equipment
TEE002 IPR-WiFi Controller
TEE003 IPR-Repeaters (RF/RF-over-Optical) & In-Building Solution (IBS)-Indoor/
Outdoor including Active and passive Accessories (2G/3G/4G/5G and onwards)
TEE004 IPR-Wireless Radio Link (IP/Hybrid equipment)
TEE999 IPR-Others
F Soft switches and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) equipment in item (f)
of notification
TEF001 VoIP-VOIP Phones
TEF002 Media Gateways
TEF003 Gateway Controllers and Session Border Controllers
TEF004 Internet Protocol Private Branch Exchange (IP PBX)
TEF005 IP Multimedia Subsystems (IMS)
TEF006 Unified Communication Systems (UCS)
TEF007
Card / Module or Subsystem converting analog voice signal into digital packets
that are carried over internet protocol that uses one or more of these products
[other than IP PBX, IMS,UCS]
TEF999 VoIP –Others
G Carrier Ethernet Switches, Packet Transport Node (PTN) products,
Multiprotocol Label Switching Transport Profile (MPLS-TP) products in
item (g) of notification
TEG001 IP-MPLS based Equipment
TEG002 PTN based Equipment
TEG003 MPLS-TP based Equipment
TEG999 Others
H Long-Term Evolution (LTE) (4G based) and Multiple Input/Multiple
Output (MIMO) in item (h) of notification
(H1) Long-Term Evolution (LTE) (4G based)
TEH101 4G-RRH
TEH102 4G-RU
TEH103 4G-BBU
TEH104 4G-CU
TEH105 4G-DU
TEH106 4G-eNodeB
TEH107 4G-CPE
TEH108 4G-EPC
TEH109 4G-IMS
TEH110 4G-Network In A Box (NIB)/ Compact LTE System
TEH111 4G-SGW
TEH112 4G-PGW
TEH199 4G-Others
(H2) Multiple Input/Multiple Output (MIMO) (5G based)
TEH201 5G-RRH
TEH202 5G-RU
TEH203 5G-BBU
TEH204 5G-CU
TEH205 5G-DU
TEH206 5G-gNodeB
TEH207 5G-CPE
TEH008 5G-5GC
TEH209 5G-IMS
TEH210 5G-Network In A Box (NIB)/ Compact System
TEH299 5G and Next Generation products-Others
Z Others
MAZ999 all goods other than those covered in (a) to (h) of Sl.no 20 Of notification
57/2017- customs as amended by notification No. 02/2019-Customs dated
29.01.2019
Abbreviations
Abbreviations used are listed below:
DSL Digital Subscriber Line
ADSL Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line
vdsl Very High-Rate Digital Subscriber Line
HDSL High-bit-rate digital subscriber line
sdsl Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line
ITU International Telecommunication Union
ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network
MPEG Moving Picture Experts Group
OTN Optical Transport Network
DXC Digital Cross Connector
DCI Data Center Interconnect
WSS Wavelength Selective Switch
ROADM Reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer
EDFA Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier
FTTH Fiber to the home
GPON Gigabit Passive Optical Network
EPON Ethernet passive optical network
NG-PON2 Next-Generation Passive Optical Network 2
ONU Optical Network Unit
APs Access Points
RF Radio Frequency
TDM Time Division Multiplexing
VoIP Voice over IP
RFC Request for Comments
RRH Remote Radio Head
RU Radio Unit
DU Distributed Unit
CPE Customer premises equipment
EPC Evolved Packet Core
IMS IP Multimedia Subsystem
5GC 5G Core
eNB eNodeB
BBU Baseband Unit
RRU Remote Radio Unit
AAU Active antenna processing unit
MME Mobility Management Entity
SGW Serving gateway
HSS Home Subscriber Server
PCRF Policy and Charging Rules Function
AMF Access and Mobility Management Function
UPF User Plane Function
HSS Home Subscriber Server
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