Paperless Customs – Electronic Communication of PDF Based Copies of Shipping Bill & e-Gatepass to Custom Brokers/Exporters

Circular No. ES/209/2020-21 23rd June, 2020

To : Members of the Council

Sub.: Paperless Customs – Electronic Communication of PDF Based Copies of Shipping Bill & e-Gatepass to Custom Brokers/Exporters

Dear Member,

CBIC has issued Circular No. 30/2020-Customs dated 22nd June, 2020 informing about their decision to rely upon digital copies of the Shipping Bill and do away with the requirement of taking bulky printouts from the Service Centre or maintenance of voluminous physical dockets in the Custom Houses.

CBIC has further informed that only the digital copy of the Shipping Bill bearing the Final LEO would be electronically transmitted to the exporter and the present practice of printing copies of the said document for the exporters and also for maintaining a docket in the Customs House would stand discontinued w.e.f. 22nd June, 2020.

This reform complements the introduction of a digital pdf Out-of-Charge (OOC) copy of the Bill of Entry and Gatepass w.e.f. 15th April, 2020 and launch of the 1 st Phase of Faceless Assessment at Chennai and Bengaluru w.e.f. 8th June, 2020.

In its continuing endeavor to promote ‘Faceless, Contactless, Paperless Customs’, this reform will yield immense benefits in terms of saving the time and cost of compliance for the trade, thereby enhancing the ease of doing business, while providing enhanced security features for verification of authenticity and validity of the electronic document. The salient features of the secure electronic communication of the Final LEO copy of the Shipping Bill and the Gatepass copy of Shipping Bill are to promote a paperless environment, Board has decided to do away with the taking the printouts. Instead, Directorate General of Systems has enabled a functionality of communicating by email, the PDF version of the Final LEO copy of the Shipping Bill to the Customs Broker and exporter, if registered. This electronic Final LEO copy can serve multiple purposes such as being shared with DGFT, Banks etc.

It is a well-known fact that, the Shipping Bill printout is also being used extensively by the logistics operators during the movement of export goods, including transhipment, by road or rail or during the loading of cargo into vessels, aircrafts etc. as a proof of export. This is despite the electronic information existing in the Customs Automated System and Board having made printing and use of Transference copies of Shipping Bill optional. Therefore, taking cognizance of the logistics needs, the Directorate General of Systems would henceforth communicate through email, the eGatepass PDF copy of the Shipping Bill to the Customs Broker and the Exporter, if registered. Accordingly, the Board has decided to do away with the printing of Transference copies of Shipping Bill.

Please note the following:

For the purposes of exports, all the supporting documents should mandatorily be uploaded in eSanchit, and collection of physical dockets shall be dispensed with.

It is possible that there may be scenarios other than those mentioned above, where printouts of Shipping Bills are required. CBIC desires that such scenarios shall be immediately informed.