To,

All Chief Commissioners of Customs / Customs (Prev.),
All Chief Commissioners of Customs & Central Excise,
All Commissioners of Customs / Customs (Prev.),
All Commissioners of Customs & Central Excise,
All Directors General under CBEC.

Sir/Madam,

Subject-: Timely intimation to Board and correspondence with other Ministries / Departments on policy matters - regarding.

1. It has been observed that the Commissionerates often correspond on sensitive and policy related issues directly with the Ministry of Commerce / DGFT without keeping Board posted. In one case where sensitive war material was found in a consignment of heavy melting scrap (HMS) despite a certificate to the contrary from an authorized inspection agency listed in Appendix-5, DGFT Hand Book of Procedures (HBP) (Volume –I), the Commissionerate directly referred the matter to DGFT for appropriate action against the said agency without informing the Board.

2. It may be appreciated that matters of policy that have all India ramifications need to be treated with seriousness by being referred to the Board. Examination of such matters by the Board would ensure appropriate action as well as a uniform approach across field formations. For instance, in the referred case of detection of war material it would have been appropriate to alert all field formations to subject similar imports covered by certificate issued by the identified authorized inspection agency to greater scrutiny. However, this could not be done since the Board was not kept informed.

3. In the aforestated circumstance, the Board desires that whenever the field formations receive a reference from any other Ministry / Department on a matter having policy implication, the Board shall invariably be kept informed. Also, the field formations should generally avoid corresponding directly with other Ministries / Departments on policy matters, but if the same is required to be done the Board should be informed.

Yours faithfully,

(Subodh Singh)
OSD (Customs), Tariff Unit


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