F. No.: VAL/TECH/82/2004
Mumbai, 2nd September 2004
To,
All Commissioners of Customs,
Sir,
Kindly refer to Directorate’s letter
of even no. dated 20.08.2004 on the above subject.
2. Please find enclosed herewith a draft
standing order prepared by Directorate of Valuation for improving the
coordination of Customs valuation work. You may consider issuing a Standing
Order on these lines in your customhouse with suitable modifications.
Yours faithfully,
COMMISSIONER (VALUATION)
Encl.: As above.
Copy to:
1. All Chief Commissioners of Customs / Central Excise.
2.
All Commissioners of
Customs & Central Excise.
(Draft Standing order)
OFFICE OF COMMISSIONER OF
CUSTOMS
F.No.
Date: .09.2004
Sub: Monitoring
Valuation trend of sensitive commodities.
4. Brand, Grade, Specification
5. Intranet
6. Special Investigation Branch
1.
Special Valuation Cell:
In order to improve the coordination of Customs Valuation
work, the Special Valuation Cell / Valuation Checking Cell of the Custom House
is reconstituted and it will be headed by an Additional / Joint Commissioner
(DOV Nodal Officer) and will be assisted by ____ Appraisers. The SVC will have
the following functions:
(i)
Monitoring
the valuation trend in respect of sensitive commodities in coordination with
appraising groups;
(ii)
Reviewing
and updating of sensitive list;
(iii)
Review
of NIDB outliers on a weekly basis and monitoring the follow up action by
appraising groups to protect the interest of revenue;
(iv)
Sending
consolidated monthly report to DOV as per the format enclosed at Annexure ‘A’, Annexure ‘B’ and Annexure ‘C’;
(v)
Monitoring
the additional revenue realized on account of revision of declared values based
on the NIDB data and other factors, and sending monthly reports to DOV;
(vi)
Analysing
the Valuation problems faced by appraising groups and providing guidance.
Matters requiring DOV advice should be prepared and put up to the Commissioner
before making reference to DOV.
2. NIDB outliers:
All Appraising officers and the
Supervisory officers (Addl/Joint/Deputy/Assistant Commissioners) in charge of
import assessing groups should make the best use of the NIDB data and other
valuation related information (Valuation Bulletin, Weekly Valuation News, SVB
data, Valuation Guidelines, case laws etc.) disseminated by the Directorate of
Valuation. The appraising officers should also scrutinize the weekly dispatches
of NIDB outliers pertaining to the respective charge and take follow up action.
All the group ACs / DCs should submit weekly reports on the action taken in the
proforma attached (Annexure ‘C’) to the Special Valuation Cell.
3. Sensitive Commodities:
A list of sensitive commodities pertaining to the
appraising Group shall be prepared. The appraising officers should keep special
watch on the valuation trend in respect of sensitive commodities prone to
under-valuation and imported through their groups. All ADCs/JCs in charge of respective groups should closely
monitor the valuation practice and take corrective measures when distortions
are noticed. A consolidated list of sensitive commodities being imported should
be prepared by the groups concerned and a monthly report on the valuation trend
in respect of sensitive commodities should be sent to the Special Valuation
Cell. The SVC shall consolidate the report and put up the same to the
Commissioner by the 3rd day of the following month for forwarding to
the Directorate of Valuation. The format prescribed for the purpose is at Annexure
‘A’ and Annexure ‘B’. The first one
concerns additions to the existing list (fresh list may be prepared for the
first time) and the second is for deletion from the existing list (for reports
in subsequent months),
4. Brand, Grade, Specification:
It is mandatory for the Importers / CHAs to declare full
and correct information concerning the goods being imported such as
description, brand, model, grade, specification, etc. in the appropriate
columns while filing the Bill of Entry. Further the unit of quantity declared
should be the standard unit. However,
very often these requirements are not complied with. Therefore it has been
decided to monitor the quality of data captured at data entry stage, during the
assessment and at the time of examination/clearance. For this purpose, all
appraising groups should prepare a list of sensitive goods on which brand;
model, grade or specification should be compulsorily declared. A consolidated
list will be compiled by the SVC and it should be sent to the Manager, CMC
Service Centre. The DC/EDI shall ensure that the fields of brand, grades, specification,
unit of quantity etc. are entered in all these cases in the import declaration
and that the respective columns are not either left blank or filled with junk
characters. The AO/AC/DC of appraising groups, while assessing the Bill of
Entry, should also see that brand; model, grade, specification, unit of
quantity etc. are declared appropriately by the importer. In case the importer
does not declare such crucial information, which has a bearing on valuation,
the appraising groups shall return the bill of entry for capturing these
details by amending the bill of entry. They should also give suitable
examination order for verification of the same at the time of examination of
the goods. The Examining Officer / AO
in the Docks should also examine the goods with respect to Brand, Model, Grade,
Trademark, Technical Specifications, etc. and ensure that the missing details
are captured by directing the
importer/CHA to amend the Bill of Entry before allowing out of charge.
5. Intranet:
The Special Valuation Cell, in consultation with the System
Manager, shall make arrangements for regularly updating the NIDB database on the Custom house
Intranet (LAN). They shall also arrange for downloading the SVB data, Valuation
Bulletin, Valuation news, Valuation Guidelines, alerts etc. every week from the
Directorate of Valuation website (www.dov.gov.in)
and copy them onto the Intranet server. The individual assessing officers and
other Intranet users should be given passwords for accessing confidential
data. The SVC, in coordination with
DOV, should also conduct training /familiarization sessions for the officers on
the utilization of NIDB data and other valuation related information made available
on the Intranet. Joint/Additional Commissioners of the assessing groups shall
keep monitoring the utilization by the individual officers of the NIDB and
other valuation information provided on LAN (Intranet). The same details are
also available on the website of the Valuation Directorate (www.dov.gov.in) and officers who are having
Internet facility may access DOV website directly. In order to facilitate the
access, the Customhouse website should provide a hyperlink to the DOV website.
6. Special Investigation Branch:
The SIB should also make use of the NIDB data and other
valuation related information available on the Intranet (or DOV website) for
monitoring valuation practices and in the detection and investigation of
valuation related offences.
7. Special Valuation Branch (SVB):
(Applicable to Custom Houses having SVB).
All efforts shall be taken to reduce the pendencies of SVB
cases pending for decision. As per office order No. dated
Joint/Addl. Commissioner in charge of the SVB has been designated as the
proper officer for taking SVB decisions. Copies of Orders passed by SVB shall
be sent to the DOV along with the monthly statement of cases registered and
decided.
The SVB should also update the database pertaining to
Special Valuation cases in the Central Registry Database (CRD) of the DOV and
posted on DOV website. The updated SVB database on the DOV webiste also should
be downloaded in coordination with the Nodal Officer and Systems Manager (EDI)
for uploading on the intranet on a monthly basis.
8. DOV Nodal Officer
Shri/Smt…….. Additional/Joint
Commissioner in charge of SVC/VCC of Import Commissionerate is nominated as
Nodal officer to coordinate Valuation matters with the Directorate of Valuation.
The Nodal officer shall have the following functions:
(i)
Keeping
the liaison with Directorate of Valuation, Mumbai and the Zonal offices at
Delhi/Bangalore on all Valuation related matters;
(ii)
Downloading
all Valuation related information (Valuation Bulletin, Weekly Valuation news,
Valuation alerts, Guidelines, etc.) from DOV website on a weekly basis and
passing it on to the System Manager (EDI) for uploading on the Intranet;
(iii)
Coordinating
with the System Manager (EDI) to ensure that raw import data goes on a daily
basis to DOV and that analyzed weekly data received from DOV is posted onto the
Intranet;
(iv)
Monitoring
the quality of data captured in the EDI System at the data entry, assessment
and clearance stages and taking suitable measures to ensure that all relevant
details are incorporated in the import data;
(v)
Monitoring
the utilisation of NIDB and other valuation related information by the
assessment groups in the Commissionerates on Intranet and reporting to the
Commissioner;
(vi)
Ensuring
that the monthly reports to DOV are prepared and dispatched in time.
Commissioner of Customs