Circular No. 12/2021-Customs
F. No.450/58/2015-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 the 30
th
June, 2021
To,
All Principal Chief Commissioners/ Chief Commissioners of Customs/ Customs (Preventive)
All Principal Chief Commissioners/ Chief Commissioners of Customs & Central tax,
All Principal Commissioners/ Commissioners of Customs/ Customs (Preventive),
All Principal Commissioners/ Commissioners of Customs & Central tax,
All Principal Director Generals/ Director Generals under CBIC.
Madam/Sir,
Subject: Implementation of the Sea Cargo Manifest and Transhipment Regulations.
Kind reference is invited to the Circular No. 43/2020- Customs dated 30
th
September
2021 on the implementation of Sea Cargo Manifest and Transhipment Regulations.
2. Sea Cargo Manifest and Transhipment Regulations (SCMTR), 2018, were notified vide
Notification No.38/2018-Customs (N.T.) dated 11.05.2018. The SCMTR seek to bring about
transparency, predictability of movement, advance collection of information for expeditious
clearance and supersedes the earlier regulations viz. Import Manifest (Vessels) Regulations,
1971 and Export Manifest (Vessels) Regulation, 1976. The Regulations stipulate for advance
notice by authorized carriers for goods arriving in or being exported out of India through
gateway seaports and further movement between Customs stations. They stipulate the
obligations, roles and responsibilities for the various stakeholders involved in movement of
imported/export goods. Based on the feedbacks from the various stakeholders, the changes
were incorporated and the said regulations was made effective from 1
st
of August, 2019 with
transitional provisions under Regulation 15 till the 30
th
of September, 2020.
3. Considering the disruptions caused due to Covid-19 Pandemic and non-readiness of
the stakeholders, Board has issued several notifications time to time and the last one being
Notification No. 50/2021-Customs (N.T.) dated 31.05.2021, vide which the transitional
provisions under Regulation 15(2) have been extended till 30
th
June 2021 to enable submission
of manifests under erstwhile regulations.
4. During this period, to handhold the trade, Directorate General of Systems has taken
numerous outreach activities for both trade and officers. Advisories (on steps for registration,
new pan – India Bonds, Dissemination of Entity Type information, message testing and filing,
reports and enquiries) and communications from time to time have been issued to the field
officers for engaging the stakeholders in handholding exercises and keeping the trade abreast
with the latest developments with regards to the implementation of SCMTR and for smooth
transition to the SCMTR regime. Directorate General of Systems has also issued various
guidelines/advisory related to the registration process and filing requirements under the Sea
Cargo Manifest and Transhipment Regulations (SCMTR) for different stakeholders such as
Shipping Lines, Freight Forwarders, Transhippers etc, who are integral to the implementation
of the said regulations. The guidelines can be found at the following link
(https://www.icegate.gov.in/SeaManifestRegulation.html). Directorate General of Systems has
organized several webinar sessions with authorised carriers/agents, custodians, freight
forwarders, console agents and other notified carriers. These outreach sessions were aimed
at sensitizing them towards message filing requirement under SCMTR as per guidance and
the formats available in ICEGATE.
5. Board has reviewed the progress of the adoption of the new formats/procedures by the
stakeholders. While it is noticed that the registration of the entities and submission of National
Bonds is almost complete, very few entities keep filing the declarations as stipulated in the
SCMTR. The Adoption of new message formats by the stakeholders is approx. 22% in case
of Sea Carriers, while it is 31% for the transhippers. It is also seen that, the filing in Export
related messages is exceptionally low, compared to the import related messages. In this stage
it may be appreciated that complete and error free details of containers and its movement
during Stuffing and the transshipment will greatly facilitate filing of Export messages. On
analysis, it is seen that 44% of custodian has adopted new messages and only 36% of Stuffing
Report is being filed by custodian in new format. As the same is not being filed in the new
format, this leading to difficulty in further integration.
6. To re-iterate, as elaborated in various outreach activities by the DG Systems, it has
already operationalized to procedure to enable online filing of the electronic declaration at
certain events by the custodians. This will enable reconciling the declarations filed by various
carriers thus error-free. The above category known as ACU/ATOs and includes custodians of
Container Freight Stations (CFS), Inland Container Depots (ICD) and seaports. These
ACUs/ATOs are required to file the stuffing reports (SF) and stripping reports (ST). Stuffing
and stripping reports are required to be filed electronically by the Custodians including Terminal
Operators wherever the cargo is being segregated or stuffed in different containers. Stuffing
(SF) and Stripping (ST) messages will be filed for every equipment (container) giving the
PCINs (Primary Cargo Identification Numbers)/MCINs (Master Cargo Identification Numbers)
being stuffed into or stripped out of that container. Additionally, Custodians will also have to
file notifications of actual time of arrival and departure of conveyance (ATE/ELR for Terminal
Operators and AT/DT for other Custodians). The same has enabled on voluntary basis since
March 2021 for migrating to the new procedure.
6.2. Further, to speed up the direct delivery process, The ATOs are required to electronically
file the following details with Customs, namely
i. Voyage Call Number (VCN), which is required to be the port on confirmation of
voyage by the vessel in such port.
ii. Actual Time of Arrival (ATE), which is required to be filed immediately on arrival at
the current port of call.
iii. Equipment Landed on Arrival (ELR), which is also required to be filed on details of
the containers offloaded from the vessel.
iv. Equipment Loaded at Departure (ELR), which is required to be filed on details of
the containers loaded on to the vessel.
v. Actual Time of Departure (ATE), which is required to be filed immediately after
departure from the Indian port of call.
7. Since sufficient time has been provided for adoption on voluntary basis, Board has
decided that following messages by the Custodian i.e., Stuffing Message (SF), ASR Filing, DP
Filing and AR filing by the Custodians and VCN message by the Terminal Operators will be
made mandatory w.e.f. 20
th
July 2021. The detailed guidelines and FAQs for different
categories of stakeholders are available on ICEGATE
(https://www.icegate.gov.in/SeaManifestRegulation.html) and may be kindly referred to.
8. Further, Board vide Customs Notification No. 56/2021 -Customs (N.T) dated 30.06.2021
has extended the transitional provisions of SCMTR till 31
st
July 2021 for to enable carriers
continue mandatory filing on parallel basis.
9. The Principal Chief/Chief Commissioners of Customs are requested to issue Public Notices
and guide the trade suitably to ensure smooth implementation of the Sea Cargo Manifest and
Transhipment Regulations.
10. Any difficulties faced in the implementation of this Circular may please be brought to
the notice of Board.
Yours faithfully,
(Manish Kumar Choudhary)
OSD (Customs-IV)
