Exporters breathe easy as CBEC eases shipping bill norms

The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has made life easier for exporters by relaxing the norms for conversion of shipping bills from free to export promotion scheme and from one export promotion scheme to another. The latest CBEC Circular (no.36/2010-Cus dated 23/09/2010) permits the Commissioners of Customs to allow conversion of shipping bills from schemes involving more rigorous examination to schemes involving less rigorous examination (for example, from Advance Authorisation/DFIA scheme to Drawback/DEPB scheme) or within the schemes involving same level of examination (for example, from Drawback scheme to DEPB scheme or vice versa).

In January 2004, CBEC instructed that conversion of free shipping bills into Advance Licence/DEPB/DFRC shipping bills should not be allowed and that conversion of shipping bills from one export promotion scheme to another should only be allowed where the benefit of any export promotion scheme claimed by the exporter has been denied by DGFT/MOC or customs due to any dispute. The courts, however, ruled that this Circular could not override Section 149 of the Customs Act of 1962 which permits amendments to the shipping bill on the basis of documents that existed at the time the goods were exported.

CBEC, however, says that conversion of free shipping bills into export promotion scheme shipping bills (advance authorization, DFIA, DEPB, reward schemes etc.) should not be allowed on the grounds that goods under free shipping bills are not examined. CBEC could have been graceful by following the rationale behind its own circular number 25/2005-Cus dated June 6, 2005 for accepting in-house test results of manufacturer exporters having the ISO 9000 series certification for the purpose of conversion of free shipping bills into export promotion scheme shipping bills.
Source: http://bit.ly/c7egyh