Examination of goods at Factory or at ICD / CFS

1. Customs Commissionerate, Hyderabad

In cases, where the manufacturer intends to avail of the facility of examination and sealing )f export of goods at the factory instead of at ICD, follow the procedure given below.

(a) The exporter will present 5 copies of non-drawback (white) Shipping Bill and 6 copies of drawback (Green) Shipping Bill at ICD for necessary processing. After processing the papers, if found in order, the Superintendent- Export will mark the papers to the concerned Range Superintendent of Central Excise for percentage examination on the 2nd (duplicate) copy of the Shipping Bill. The Superintendent export will also indicate the mode of examination and the documents to be verified, if any, at the time of examination of goods.

(b) The exporter shall present the goods along with the processed Shipping Bills relevant invoices (in quadruplicate for export under Drawback claim and in triplicate for other goods) packing lists and G.R. Forms, etc., with a written request to the jurisdictional Superintendent of Central Excise.

(c) The goods will be examined by the Inspector of Central Excise under the supervision of the Superintendent. After examination of the goods the inspector will supervise stuffing of goods in container (after verifying it to be empty) and seal the container with Central Excise seal.

(d) The details of the examination carried out (including verification of particulars for duty drawback, DEEC and drawback of sample for chemical test, where required, by the Superintendent of Customs) and the container number and Seal (C.E.) number will be recorded by the Inspector on the Duplicate copy of Non Drawback Shipping Bill and on Duplicate and Triplicate copy of the Drawback Shipping Bill. The Inspector of Central Excise will also indicate the amount of Drawback admissible on the basis of examination in the appropriate column of Drawback Shipping Bill. The Inspector of Central Excise indicate the amount of drawback claim purpose.

(e) The following examination report must be written and signed by the Excise Inspector and countersigned by the Superintendent of Central Excise with the seal and stamp.

"Inspected the lot of ______________ packages. Selected and opened pack age number____________ for examination and found to contain ________________ (description of goods as verified as per the Shipping Bill, Invoice (s), Packing List, GA Form (EIA and other documents, if attached) drawn representative sample from the package No. ---for chemical test (if required by the Superintendent Custom)."

Inspected the container No. ___________ and found empty. After stuffing of above goods into the container under my supervision, the container sealed with Central Excise Seal No. ______________ under my Supervision.

Signature of the Inspector Signature of the Superintendent

(f) If the goods under export are subject to compulsory pre-shipment quality inspection, the same can be carried out simultaneously and the report as required may be submitted by the authorities concerned with the pre- shipment inspection to the exporter for production before and examination by the Central Excise Superintendent, and this fact regarding inspection and sealing of goods by Export Inspection Agency/Agmark officials may also be incorporated in the report of Central Excise Inspector.

(g) In the case of excisable products where duty Drawback is being claimed, the Range Officer shall submit a detailed examination report. This is particularly required in the case of shortages/discrepancies detected against the description/quantity declared on the face of the Shipping Bills. Wherever such discrepancy is noticed, the Rang17 Officer must get the Shipping Bills amended to prevent misuse of the facility. In the case of products being exported under the DEEC scheme, the Range Officer will correlate and verify input-output ratio of imported and indigenous raw material as declared by exporter. The Range Officer must, therefore, at the point of examination of the goods, point out any deviation from the norms prescribed. The examination of goods is vital in this case as well as (b) above the prevention of any misuse of the benefit being claimed by the exporter.

The Central Excise Authorities will then hand over the Shipping Bills and other relevant papers to the Exporter under proper receipt for submission to the Asstt. Commissioner of Customs, ICD, Hyderabad. It shall be the responsibility of the Exporter to bring the sealed container straight from the place of examination of goods to the ICD and the Export Section will verify the Central Excise Seal on the container. The Inspector and Superintendent of Export will scrutinise the examination report of the Central Excise Authorities and allow the selaing of the container of the one time lock (Customs Lock) and pass the consignment for shipment. The Asstt. Commissioner of Customs, ICD, however, may order a percentage examination of the consignment and draw the samples for test at ICD, as desired.

That the exporter of excisable as well as non-excisable products wanting to avail of the above facility should apply in triplicate, one copy of the application should be addressed to the Commissioner (Customs), one to the Commissioner. (Central Excise) and the third to the Divisional Assistant Commissioner must send its report regarding feasibility of factory stuffing of the container within a week of receiving the application.

Regarding non-excisable goods, the Commissioner of Customs, Hyderabad (for goods sought to be exported through ICD) will consider individual exporter"s request for examination of particular goods at Source and grant permission after considering the feasibility (if approved by the Principal commissioner) and intimate requirements of examination to the Commissioner of Central Excise under whose jurisdiction the Exporter"s factory is located.

The Exporter of the non-excisable goods will be required to file one extra copy of the Shipping Bill for the record of the jurisdictional Central Excise Officer. The Exporter of non-excisable goods will also be liable to pay merchant overtime as prescribed, for the duration of officer"s services being requisitioned. The Merchant Overtime has to be credited to the Government Account under Treasury Challan. The transport facilty will be provided by the Exporter to the Range Officer.

2. Customs Commissionerate, Chandigarh

It is brought to the notices of all Exporters, Clearing Agents and other trade interests that the following procedure will be followed in cases where the exporters intend to avail of the facility of examination of the export goods at source or at the Internal Container Depots:

(a) The exporter will present 5 copies of the non-Drawback (white) Shipping Bills and 6 copies of Drawback (Green) Shipping Bills at the I.C.D./C.F.S. for the usual processing. In case the Superintendent (Export) on processing finds the papers in order he will mark them to the concerned Superintendent of Central Excise for examination and recording the requisite examination report on the second (duplicate) copy of the Shipping Bill. The Superintendent (Export) will also indicate the mode of examination and details of the documents, if any, which are required to be verified at the time of examination of the export goods.

(b) The exporter shall present the export goods alongwith the processed Shipping Bill, the relevant invoices in quadruplicate where the goods are being exported under claim for Duty Drawback and in triplicate where Duty Drawback is not claimed, G.R. Forms, etc., with a written request to the jurisdictional Superintendent of Central Excise for carrying out the examination.

(c) The export goods will thereafter be examined by an Inspector of Central Excise under the supervision of the Superintendent. The Inspector will verify that the container is empty and thereafter get the aforesaid export goods stuffed into the container under his supervision and will seal the container with the Central Excise seal.

(d) The details of the examination carried out [including verification of various particulars which are relevant for the purpose of claiming Duty Drawback and for the purpose of making suitable endorsement on the DEEC Book, the details of the samples drawn as per the requirement of Superintendent of Customs (Exports)], the Container No. and Central Excise Seal No. will be recorded by the Inspector on the duplicate copy of the Non-Drawback (White) Shipping Bill and duplicate and triplicate copies of the Drawback (Green) Shipping Bill. The Inspector of Central Excise will also indicate the amount of Duty Drawback admissible on the basis of the examination in the appropriate column of the Drawback Shipping Bill. The Inspector Central Excise will also attest the relevant invoices and packing lists in duplicate.

(e) The examination report shall be written and signed by the Inspector of Central Excise in the. following format:

"Inspected the lots consisting of packages. Selected and opened the packages bearing the following marks and Nos.:

...........................................................

for examination and fund them containing.............................................. (the description of the goods shall be verified and recorded in the Examination Report with reference to the description given in the Shipping Bill, Invoices, Packing Lists, G.R. Forms and such other documents).

Representative sample as required has been drawn from package No. _____for test.

Container No. ________has been inspected and found to be empty. The aforesaid goods have been stuffed into the container under my supervision and also sealed with Central Excise Seal No.

Signature of the Superintendent Signature of the Inspector

(f) If the goods under export are subject to compulsory preshipment quality inspection, the same can be carried out simultaneously with the Central Excise Examination and this fact regarding inspection and sealing of the export goods by the Export Inspection Agency shall be incorporated in the report of the Central Excise Inspector.

(g) In the case of excisable goods where Duty Drawback is being claimed, the Superintendent of Central Excise shall submit detailed examination report. This is particularly required in case where shortages/discrepancies have been detected with regard to the quantity/description declared by the exporter on the face of the Shipping Bill. Wherever such discrepancy is noticed, the Superintendent of Central Excise shall get the Shipping Bill suitably amended. Wherever the export goods are being exported under the Duty Exemption Scheme, the Superintendent of Central Excise shall correlate and verify the input-output ratio of the imported and indigenous raw-materials vis-a-vis the finished products as declared by the exporter. He shall point out the deviation, if any, from the prescribed norms in the Examination Report itself. It must be noted that the examination of the goods exported under the Duty Exemption Scheme is as vital as in the case of goods exported under claim of Duty Drawback.

2. The Superintendent of Central Excise will then hand over the Shipping Bill and other relevant papers to the exporter under proper acknowledgment for submission to the concerned Assistant Commissioner of Customs Incharge of the ICD and/or the CFS. It shall be the responsibility of the exporter to bring the sealed container straight from the place of examination to the ICD/CFS. The Export Section in the ICD/CFS shall verify the Central Excise seal on the container. The Inspector and Superintendent (Export) will scrutinise the Examination Report recorded by the Central Excise Officers and will ordinarily allow the sealing of the container with one time lock (Customs Lock) and pass the consignment for shipment. Whereas the export goods shall not ordinarily be subjected to re-examination except in cases where the officers of Customs at the ICD/CFS find that the examination has not been carried out in accordance with the prescribed procedure or have reasonable doubts. In such cases the Customs Officers at the ICD/CFS may carry out a percentage examination once again and also draw such samples as they consider necessary.

3. The exporters of excisable as well as non-excisable products who wish to avail of the above facility should apply in triplicate. One copy of the application should be addressed to the Assistant Commissioner of Customs Incharge of the ICD/CFS to enable him to seek the approval of the Commissioner of Customs, one to the Commissioner of Central Excise and the third one to the jurisdictional Assistant Commissioner of Central Excise. The jurisdictional Assistant Commissioner of Central Excise shall send his report regarding the feasibility of the factory stuffing of the Export Cargo in the container within a week of the receipt of the application from the exporter.

4. As regards the export of non-excisable goods, the Commissioner of Customs having jurisdiction over the ICD/CFS may consider the request of the individual exporter regarding examination of the export goods at source and grant permission after considering the feasibility and intimate the requirements of examination required to be conducted to the Commissioner of Central Excise under whose jurisdiction the exporter"s factory is located.

5. The exporters of non-excisable goods will be required to file one extra copy of the Shipping Bill for the record of the jurisdictional Central Excise Office. The exporter of non-excisable goods will also be liable to pay Merchant Overtime at the prescribed rates for the duration the services of the Central Excise Officers are requisitioned. The Merchant Overtime will be credited to the Government Account under a proper Treasury Challan. The exporter shall also provide transport facility to the officers of Central Excise deputed for attending to the examination.

6. The above facility will also be available to Merchant Exporters provided the Export Cargo is full container load and the stuffing is done in the factory engaged in the manufacture of the export goods in question and provided further such factory is under Central Excise Control.