Circular No. 45 /2013 - Customs dated 31.12.2013
Sir / Madam,
Attention is invited to Regulation 6(2) of the “Handling of Cargo in
Customs Area Regulations, (HCCAR) 2009” which stipulates the following
requirement:
“The Customs Cargo Service provider approved for custody of imported or export
goods and for handling of such goods shall not lease, gift, sell or sublet or in
any other manner transfer any of the premises in a customs area; or sub contract
or outsource functions permitted or required to be carried out by him in terms
of these regulations to any other person, without the written permission of the
Commissioner of Customs.”
2. Instances have come to notice of the Board where Customs Cargo Service
Providers (CCSPs) have sub-contracted operations relating to handling of
import/export cargo without written permission of the jurisdictional
Commissioner of Customs. This has led to situation where cargo integrity at
times has been compromised by such operators to whom the services were sub
contracted by CCSP without getting prior approval from jurisdictional
Commissioner of Customs. In a particular case one such unapproved operator to
whom the CCSP had sub-contracted the work of transportation of export goods was
found to be complicit in substitution of the export goods with goods prohibited
for export.
3. To obviate these situations, Board re-iterates that under no circumstances,
CCSPs approved for custody of imported or export goods and for handling of such
goods shall lease, gift, sell or sublet or in any other manner transfer any of
the premises in a customs area; or sub contract or outsource functions permitted
or required to be carried out by him in terms of these regulations without
written approval of the jurisdictional Commissioner of Customs. Board also
desires jurisdictional Commissioners of Customs to review immediately the
conditions and obligations required to be fulfilled by CCSP under HCCAR, 2009
and promptly initiate remedial action in case non compliance is noticed.
4. All cases of violation of regulation 6(2) shall be dealt with sternly
according to law and the violators shall be punished.
5. Difficulty faced, if any, may be brought to the notice of the Board.
Yours faithfully,
(M.V.Vasudevan)
(Under Secretary to the Government of India)
F.NO. 450/160/2013- Cus IV