Circular No.ES/422/2018-19 March 26, 2019
To: Members of the Council
URGENT & IMPORTANT
Sub.: Request/ inputs for creation of new HS Codes
Dear Member,
The Council is in receipt of a letter from the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), Ministry of Finance, Govt. of India seeking requests / inputs from members of Trade for creation of new HS Codes.
It may be informed that many exporters are not indicating the ITC HS Codes in their Shipping Bills while making exports. It may be also mentioned that exporters often give incorrect ITC HS Codes in the documents due to failure of not finding a HS Code suitable for its product/s. Consequently, the monitoring authorities like the Customs, DGFT, DGCI&S, PGAs etc. are unable to compile and analyse accurate trade data on India's foreign trade. As you are aware, reliable and timely trade data is crucial for taking appropriate Policy decisions and is extremely valuable both for Government and the exporting community.
It has been brought to the notice of the Council that many members are facing problems in the Customs due to incorrect/non-availability of specified HS Codes in the Customs Tariff resulting into accounting of larger portion of Export-Import Trade under “Other” Category and thereby face punitive measures like withdrawal of export benefits and other penalty charges.
In this regard, we are glad to inform you that CBIC has constituted a dedicated Working Group headed by Member, CBIC to look into the issues related to Customs Tariff Act and its Schedules.
The mandate of the group includes broadening / expansion of Customs Tariff by creating new 8-digit Customs tariff headings / lines for specific commodities or class of commodities, wherever feasible.
Following criteria has been proposed by CBIC for creation of a tariff line:
The commodity, for which codes have to be created, should have trade volume more than Rs. 100 cr in the preceding financial year (2017-18) in terms of value, OR
Sensitive commodities, trade of which is required to be monitored, regardless of said threshold value of Rs.100 cr.
In view of the above, it is requested to provide the following information immediately to the Council :
the name of the products which are being exported under the “Other” category with value (Rs.cr) during 2017-18.
Suitable HS Code at 8 digit level for the above mentioned products currently exported under the “Other” category.
Please note the following –
Since Tariff lines have to be mutually exclusive, creation of a new tariff line also warrants detailed examination of the technical or other specifications of the commodity, its identification or distinguishing characteristics from the existing lines.
Members who wish to have a new HS code created for their products are requested to kindly suggest / provide the details of the products for which tariff lines (HS Codes) are to be created substantiated with the details referred above latest by 29th March, 2019 (Friday) to es@srtepc.in; ed@srtepc.in.
Please avail the opportunity extended by CBIC and send in your replies immediately at the above email ids.
Thanking you,
Yours faithfully,
S. BALARAJU
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
