OFFICE OF THE Commissioner of Customs NEW CUSTOM HOUSE: PANAMBUR: MANGALORE

PUBLIC NOTICE NO.30/2001                                                                            DATED: 28.09.2001

The procedure for collection of duty on ships stores on temporary conversion of foreign going vessels to coastal trade is given below for information and guidance of steamer agents and all other concerned.

1. Whenever vessels in the foreign run convert to coastal trade, the steamer agent should present an application in triplicate to the Assistant/Deputy Commissioner of Customs, Custom House, requesting for permission for conversion and also services of a Inspector for inventorying the ship stores and the personal property of the crew members on board the vessel. The application should indicate the estimated period of coastal run, the itinerary of coastal voyage if possible, and also whether the steamer agent would like to pay duty on the entire ship stores carried by the vessel. If the steamer agent does not wish to pay duty on the entire quantity of ship stores carried by the vessel, he should indicate in the application the quantity of ship stores he wishes to withdraw for use on board the vessel.
2. At the time of conversion from foreign to coastal run, the steamer agent shall also file a bill of entry in the import section for payment of customs duties on the full quantity of ship stores or the quantity of ship stores estimated to be consumed during the coastal run (as the case may be). If the duty is recovered not on the full quantity of stores on board but on a part quantity, the assessment of the bill of entry at this stage shall be provisional. Provisional assessment shall be at an amount, which is 110% of the duty leviable on the quantity estimated to be consumed. If duty is being collected on full quantity, assessment of the bill of entry will be done only after receipt of certified inventory from the Superintendent (Docks) vide provisions of paragraph 5.
3. On receipt of the B/E in the Custom House, the appraising section will assess the same and return it to steamer agent for payment of duty.

    

4. The permission for conversion will be granted only after the payment of amount assessed on the bill of entry vide paragraph 3. Permission for conversion can be granted prior to payment to those steamer agents who maintain a provisional deposit account with the customs and authorize the customs to debit their provisional deposit account with the amount assessed on the bill of entry. In exceptional cases permission for conversion without payment would be granted only by the Commissioner of Customs. Adequate reasons should exist for permitting conversion without payment of duty assessed on the bill of entry.
5. The duplicate/triplicate copies of the application will be forwarded by the superintendent, C.H. to the Superintendent, (Docks) for deputing a Inspector for taking the inventory as per the steamer agent’s request. If the steamer agent in his application has indicated his desire to withdraw only a portion of the total stores on board the vessel, the Inspector concerned should supervise the withdrawal and seal the remaining stores on board. The quantity withdrawn and also the quantity sealed should be clearly indicated in the inventory list prepared by the Inspector. In regard to Fuel Oils on board, the inventory of furnace oil, diesel oil, lubricant oil, etc. should be given separately and the samples of the same have to be drawn and sent for chemical test. Inventory of lube oil should be given grade/brand wise.

   During conversion/reversion, ullage survey of the bunkers on board has to be conducted by an approved surveyor and wherever, the steamer agent intends to pay duty on the estimated quantity of the bunkers consumed during the coastal run, ullage survey of the bunkers by an approved surveyor has to be taken during reversion to foreign run also.

   The Inspector would similarly take inventory of the private property of the crew. For liquor, cigarettes and other high value items, the brand names should also be mentioned in the inventory. The inventory list of ship stores and private property of crew members prepared by the Inspector should be countersigned by the master of the vessel or his agent and by the Inspector making the inventory.

   Five copies of the inventory shall be prepared. The Inspector concerned will forward one copy to the Superintendent (Docks), and another to the Import Section. One copy shall be handed over by Inspector to the steamer agent and two copies to the master of the vessel - one for his record and second for handing over to the Inspector at the port of reversion to foreign run.

6. After taking the inventory, the Inspector should forward the triplicate copy of the steamer agent’s application, with an endorsement that Port Clearance may be granted, to the Superintendent, Custom House.
7. As regards private property of the crew, the steamer agent would give an undertaking as per annexure ‘A’ to this Public Notice, to the Superintendent (Preventive), of this Custom House to the effect that the baggage would be cleared as per the Rules. This undertaking will be cancelled when a certificate from the Custom House, where the vessel is reverted to foreign run is produced, showing that all the private property of the crew inventoried at Mangalore Custom House has been duly accounted for.

    

8. If in another Indian port, the vessel on the coastal run needs any further bonded stores the steamer agent should make a similar application at the port concerned and pay duty on such stores as are taken out of the bond.
9. At the time of reversion to foreign run, the master of the vessel or the Steamer Agent should make an application to the Assistant/Deputy Commissioner of Customs, Custom House, along with a copy of the application to the Superintendent (Docks), requesting for the services of a Inspector for inventorying the stores and the private property of crew on board the vessel.

    

10. Five copies should be made of the inventory. On completion of inventorisation a copy will be retained in the Docks Section, one copy would be forwarded to Asst./Deputy Commissioner of Customs to whom application was made for reversion of the vessel to foreign run, one copy will be sent to the Superintendent, (Refunds/ Drawback) of this Custom House and two copies will be given to the steamer agent or the master of the vessel. On the basis of the copy of final inventory and the triplicate copy of the Bill of Entry the steamer agent would file a refund claim in the Refund Section of this Custom House.
11. The refund application so received will be dealt with in the Refund Section in the usual manner after considering the same along with the copy of the final inventory forwarded by the Docks Section/Preventive Section of the port of reversion.

     

12. In so far as the private property declaration is concerned, the Custom House, at which the reversion to foreign run takes place, should verify that the private property has been properly accounted for, either by retention on board by the crew or by its clearance through Customs in that port or in any other intermediate port in India. A certificate to that effect will be issued by the Preventive Department to the Steamer Agents so that the same could be produced by the Steamer Agent before the Superintendent (Preventive) of Mangalore Custom House in order to get his undertaking cancelled.