Cargo steps into paperless processing ............................................... .......................
With the objective to save time, speed up clearance of the import/export documents and reduce transaction cost, the Ministry of Finance has stopped physical printouts of exchange control copy and EP copy of shipping bills from December 1, 2016.
The cargo Industry and the government are both making efforts for the smooth transition to paperless cargo processing. The government has issued a note to eliminate the physical printouts for custom clearance with effect from December 1, 2016. This will help the importers and exporters to move towards electronic messaging and paper–free environment.
The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) issued a Circular No. 55/2016 - Customs, wherein importers and exporters will henceforth not be required to submit paper documents such as GAR 7 forms/TR 6 challans, Transshipment Permit (TP), shipping bill (Exchange Control copy and Export Promotion copy) & Bill of Entry (Exchange Control Copy) to banks/ DGFT/customs ports etc.
CARGOTALK
speaks to industry experts for reaction on the government decision of discontinuing physical printouts of exchange control copy and EP copy of shipping bills and talks to them about how this initiative will steer the way for the industry to move forward.
The trade will benefit greatly with the doing away of physical printouts of documents for customs clearance Such actions will send a serious message towards improving the ease of doing business and increasing the speed of transactions This is a good sign of heading from a much-complicated work culture to a technologically advanced system Paperless bill of entry will restrict the entry of bogus trade and the confidence of foreign buyer will increase on the Indian exporter
S.L. Sharma, Gallery of Legends, India Cargo Award winner 2016 and Chairman, SLS Skyways Group, says, “The government has taken up several initiatives for promoting and enhancing ‘ease of doing business’. One of the ways to make cargo clearance easier is to reduce the use of paper and to introduce electronic messaging and paperless processing. This can be achieved by advancing automated clearance process, EDI messaging and digital signatures to make a paper-free environment and help in reducing transaction costs for which the trade has been fighting hard for a long time.”
Echoing similar views, Rahul Dogar, Director – Strategy & Business Development, Holisol Logistics, says it is a good move and will significantly increase the speed of doing business and reduce the amount of paperwork that had a low value-addition.
Appreciating the move, Rahat Sachdeva, VP – International Logistics, Rahat Continental & India Cargo Award winner 2016, says, “It is a good sign to be heading from a much-complicated work culture to a technologically advanced system. We are going cashless; it is imperative to go paperless too. This will not only save the environment but a lot of manpower, postage and other miscellaneous costs which are now required to manage paperwork. In the longterm, our focus and energies can be used towards more constructive tasks which will benefit the overall trade.This move will be beneficial for every member in the supply chain.”
Emphasising the importance of transparency, Varun Goyal, Director, Aeroship Freight Solutions, stresses, “Paperless bill of entry or shipping bill will restrict the entry of bogus trade and the confidence of foreign buyer will increase on the Indian exporter in terms of trade transparency.”
Around 95 per cent of importers pay duty through e-payment and these documents can be viewed on the ICEGATE (E-payment Gateway). Hence, the need for printouts of GAR 7 Forms /TR6 Challans is not required. Similarly, trans-shipment permit information is sent electronically to the carrier, the transporter undertaking the trans-shipment, the custodian of the gateway port and the ICES system at the destination ICD or port. With this, the requirement for submission of manual printouts of TP copy has been done away with.
The ICES generates documents, such as the shipping bill and the bill of entry, electronically. The CBEC provides copies of the digitally-signed shipping bill to DGFT and the data of shipping bill is integrated with the EDPMS (Export Data Processing and Monitoring System) of RBI. Therefore, printing of the exchange control copy and export promotion copy of the shipping bill for manual submission by the exporter is not required. Similarly, with the operationalisation of the IDPMS (Import Data Processing and Monitoring System) banks are not required to obtain a physical copy of bill of entry from the importer as an evidence of import because data can be transferred in a secure manner from the system of customs department to IDPMS.
Explaining how these initiatives are helping the industry to move in the right direction, Sharma notifies, “The trade will benefit greatly with the doing away of physical printouts of documents for customs clearance. It will help the importers and exporters to move towards electronic messaging and a paper free environment. The importer/exporter, henceforth will not be required to submit paper documents such as transshipment permit, shipping bill and bill of entry, this will also reduce transaction cost.”
On the other hand, Dogar says this move reflects progressive thinking and such actions will definitely send a serious message towards improving the ease of doing business and increasing the speed of transactions. However, he says, “This is one important step, but there are many more initiatives that need to be taken to achieve the end objective of promoting exports from the country.”
“There is lot to do to achieve paperless export/import procedure and even physical intervention with the government machineries should be restricted to keep the transparency in the system from flinging till assessment. All documents must be linked online to the respective other government agencies. Moreover, to go one step ahead with the other countries’ customs authority, restrict the misdeclaration in terms of value to avoid government revenues of other courtiers as well,” explains Goyal.