CHENNAI:  Chennai and Bengaluru customs will begin faceless assessment of cargo in the first phase of the national roll-out of the program. The first phase will begin from June 8 and will be implemented across the country by the year end.

“The Board has decided to begin Faceless Assessment in phases beginning with Customs stations which already have the experience of the pilot programs,” the Central Board of Indirect Tax and Customs (CBIC) said in a circular.

To begin with, imports covered by Chapters 84 and 85 of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 which includes machinery, mechanical appliances, electrical equipment and parts, will be allowed for faceless assessment while going through customs.

The Customs Automated System will assign Bills of Entry filed for imports of these materials.

“The phased roll-out plan envisages that Faceless Assessment shall be the norm pan India by December 31, 2020,” the Board added.

Faceless assessment of cargo is part of a string of next generation reforms called ‘Turant Customs, which is aimed at speedy clearance of goods at air and sea ports, which in turn will benefit ease of doing business in India.

CBIC has put into effect a proposal mooted in February to restructure existing commissionerates into to set up National Assessment Commissionerates (NACs) with the mandate to examine assessment practices of imported articles across Customs stations and suggest measures to bring about uniformity and enhanced quality of assessments.

“The NACs would be put in place as and when Faceless Assessment is rolled out in phases across the country,” CBIC said while notifying the proposal on June 5.

Principal Chief Commissioners or Chief Commissioners concerned have been directed to set up dedicated cells called Turant Suvidha Kendras, in every customs station manned by custom officers to perform various functions, primarily, accepting Bond or Bank Guarantees, generating test memo and forwarding the samples, processing request for fee waiver for late filing and carrying out any other technical function.

“COVID-19 has put the digital India initiative in the spotlight and there is an expectation from all the revenue collectors to become 100% online and automated,” said Rajat Mohan, Senior Partner at AMRG Associates.

The CBIC has introduced various reforms earlier such as single window interface for facilitating trade, e-Sanchit (e-Storage and computerised handling of indirect tax documents), and direct port delivery, among others. However, India’s export-import trade has often flagged issues of seaports carrying out their own assessment and examination which varies from port to port, and divergent practices being adopted by authorities.