Page 60 - ELT_15th July 2020_Vol 373_Part 2

T8 EXCISE LAW TIMES [ Vol. 373

Under its flagship ‘Turant Customs’ programme aimed at providing a
‘Faceless, Contactless and Paperless’ Customs administration, Board has recently
introduced a number of initiatives that leverage technology in order to enhance
the efficiency in the Customs clearance processes thereby leading to speedy
clearances, transparency in decision making, ease of doing business and very
importantly, reduce physical contact in the prevailing pandemic situation. These
initiatives include, amongst others, automated clearances of Bills of Entry,
digitisation of Customs documents, paperless clearance, Faceless Assessment
and establishment of Turant Suvidha Kendra at Bengaluru and Chennai vide
Circulars No. 05/2020-Customs, dated 27-1-2020 [2020 (371) E.L.T. (T23)], No.
19/2020-Customs, dated 13-4-2020 [2020 (372) E.L.T. (T7)] and No. 28/2020-
Customs, dated 5-6-2020 respectively [2020 (372) E.L.T. (T29)].
2. Continuing with the aforementioned initiatives and with a view to
further prepare the ground for applying the reforms pan-India, Board has now
decided to take certain measures, which are detailed below.
3. Turant Suvidha Kendra in All Customs Formations :
3.1 Circular No. 28/2020-Customs, dated 5-6-2020 provided for setting
up Turant Suvidha Kendras (TSK) for the purpose of implementation of 1st
Phase of Faceless Assessment at Bengaluru and Chennai and Instruction No.
9/2020-Customs, dated 5-6-2020, details the roles and functions of TSKs.
Considering the benefits ushered in by providing single point interface, Board
has decided to extend TSKs to all the Customs formations for carrying out the
functions mentioned in para 5 of the said Circular. The Principal Chief
Commissioners of Customs/Chief Commissioners of Customs are advised to set
up the TSKs in all Customs stations by 15-7-2020. This step is being taken in
advance of the pan-India rollout Faceless Assessment, which would be done in
phases to be announced soon. To reiterate, the broad scheme of the TSK would
be as follows :
(i) The document verification by Customs officers at Assessment and
Customs Compliance Verification (CCV) stages would normally
be based on the documents uploaded in the e-Sanchit, not
requiring physical submission of documents. However, if in any
exceptional situation the physical submission of documents is
required by Customs, for defacement or validation, such
submission would be made only at the TSKs.
(ii) Documents requiring verification during examination for
validation with goods would continue to be done during
examination, as at present.
(iii) One or more TSKs may be set up for the convenience of the trade.
(iv) Suitable procedures are to be devised for handling & safe keeping
of the documents produced at TSKs. Ideally these documents
should also be kept in electronic form.
3.2 The Principal Chief Commissioners of Customs/Chief
Commissioners of Customs are advised to give wide publicity regarding the
place, timings and contact details of the TSKs.
4. At the behest of Board, DG Systems, CBIC has enabled w.e.f. today
i.e., 6-7-2020 certain functionalities in ICEGATE which would reduce the need for
physical interaction between Customs and trade and also speed up the Customs
clearance process. These new functionalities are explained below.
EXCISE LAW TIMES  15th July 2020  60