Customs stations to set up 'Turant Suvidha Kendras' by July 15

All Customs stations would set up Turant Suvidha Kendras (TSKs) by July 15 which will act as the sole physical interface point with Customs officers for physical submission of documents, the CBIC has said.

In a communication to all Principal Chief Commissioners of Customs and Central Tax, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) said the step is being taken ahead of the pan-India roll out of faceless assessment, which will be done in phases.

"The Principal Chief Commissioners of Customs/Chief Commissioners of Customs are advised to set up the TSKs in all Customs stations by July 15, 2020," it said.

In its efforts to make India enter top 50 rank in World Bank's 'Ease of Doing Business' ranking, the CBIC had last year announced reform measure — Turant Customs — for speedy clearance of goods at air and sea ports.

Turant Customs is a comprehensive package which is being implemented in a phased manner.

Towards that, the Customs department plans to roll out pan-India faceless assessment by December 31 in a phased manner, and has already started it at Chennai and Bengaluru ports from June 8.

Faceless assessment (commonly known as anonymised or virtual assessment) enables an assessing officer, who is physically located in a particular jurisdiction, to assess a 'Bill of Entry' pertaining to imports made at a different Customs station, whenever such a 'Bill of Entry' has been assigned to him in the Customs automated system.

"Considering the benefits ushered in by providing single point interface set up in Bengaluru and Chennai Zones for first phase of faceless assessment, CBIC would set up Turant Suvidha Kendra (TSKs) to all the Customs formations w.e.f July 15, 2020," an official statement said.

"TSKs will henceforth be the sole physical interface point with Customs formations whenever physical submission of documents is required by Customs such as for defacement of Country of Origin Certificates. This is expected to further ease the Customs clearance process," it added.

The statement further said that CBIC Chairman M Ajit Kumar on Monday unveiled several new and modern testing equipment inducted into the Central Revenues Control Laboratory (CRCL) which would significantly enhance the in-house testing capability of Customs, leading to faster import and export clearances.

He also launched new IT functionalities for supporting contactless Customs under the CBIC's flagship programme 'Turant Customs'.

The IT functionalities empower exporters to self manage changes in their bank account and AD Code through ICEGATE as well as register on ICEGATE without having to approach a Customs officer.

"A major innovation that was announced today is the automated debit of Bonds in the ICES which will dispense with the need for importer to visit Custom Houses to get the debit made manually.

"It has also been decided that the balance in the Bond would henceforth be indicated in the import document, which would help importers plan their imports," the statement added.