[TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE GAZETTE OF INDIA, EXTRAORDINARY,
PART-II, SECTION 3, SUB-SECTION (i)]
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF FINANCE
DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE
(CENTRAL BOARD OF INDIRECT TAXES AND CUSTOMS)

Notification No. 68/2019-Customs (N.T.)

New Delhi, the 30th September, 2019
08 Asvina, Saka 1941

G.S.R. (E) In exercise of the powers conferred by section 157 read with sub-section (1) of section 54 and section 143AA of the Customs Act, 1962 (52 of 1962), the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs hereby makes the following regulations, namely: -

1. Short title and commencement. -

(1) These regulations may be called the Transhipment of Cargo to Nepal under Electronic Cargo Tracking System Regulations, 2019.
(2) They shall come into force on the day of their publication in the Official Gazette.

2. Definitions. –

(1) In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—
(a) ‘Act’ means the Customs Act, 1962 (52 of 1962);
(b) “authorised carrier” means an authorised sea carrier, an authorised train operator, shipping line or a custodian, registered under regulation 3 of the Sea Cargo Manifest and Transhipment Regulations, 2018 or his authorised agent;
(c) “ECTS” means the electronic cargo tracking system deployed for securing and monitoring traffic-in-transit destined to Nepal;
(d) “managed service provider” means a technology service provider appointed, as bi-laterally agreed between the Governments of India and Nepal, for providing ECTS services.

(2) The words and expressions used and not defined in these regulations but defined in the Act shall have the same meanings respectively assigned to them in the Act.

3. Application. – These regulations shall apply to the transhipment of cargo from the ports of Kolkata, Haldia and Visakhapatnam in India to Birgunj in Nepal by rail and from the ports of Kolkata, Haldia and Visakhapatnam to Batnaha in India by rail and from Batnaha to Biratnagar in Nepal by road.

4. Declaration of transhipment. - The authorised carrier shall, –
(a) declare the cargo destined to Nepal and the port of final discharge in Nepal in the arrival manifest;
(b) undertake to transport the goods by rail or rail-cum-road till they reach the port of final discharge in Nepal;
(c) directly procure ECTS seals at their own cost from the managed service provider;
(d) execute a general bond for an amount as directed by the proper officer;
(e) file a declaration of transhipment, in triplicate, in the Form appended to these regulations before the proper officer, along with a copy of the commercial invoice.

5. Permission to load goods. - No person-in-charge of a conveyance shall permit the loading of goods destined to Nepal, onto a railway vehicle, unless the declaration of transhipment relating to them has been approved by the proper officer. 6. Permission for transhipment. – (1) Where pursuant to the approval referred to in regulation 5, goods have been loaded on a railway vehicle, the proper officer shall, - (a) ensure that the cargo is sealed securely with the ECTS seals and related information is entered into the associated web-application; (b) endorse all the three copies of the declaration of transhipment with the ECTS seal number and retain a copy therefrom and hand over the remaining two copies of the declaration of transhipment to the person in charge of the railway vehicle for being carried along with the goods. (2) The authorised carrier shall submit a copy of the endorsed declaration of transhipment at the land customs station of exit from India and the other copy shall be handed over to the customs at the port of final discharge in Nepal.

7. Arrival at the land customs station. -

(1) The containers which are affixed with an ECTS seal shall be halted at the land customs station of exit in India for unsealing by the proper officer.
(2) The proper officer shall, before unsealing, check the integrity of the seal using web application and if no alert of unauthorised unsealing is found, he shall remove the ECTS seal.
(3) In case the ECTS indicates an alert about any unauthorised unsealing, the proper officer shall make due verification of the goods to check whether the goods are in accordance with the declaration of transhipment and shall allow the transhipment to Nepal, upon being satisfied that there is no irregularity.
(4) The proper officer shall make an endorsement of unsealing on both the copies of declaration of Transhipment, retain one copy, and shall hand over the other to the authorised carrier for onward submission to Nepal Customs.
(5) The person-in-charge of the conveyance shall not commence onward journey to Nepal unless the proper officer has permitted him so to do by an order endorsed on the declaration of transhipment.

8. Discharge of bond. –

(1) The proper officer shall extract trip reports from the ECTS web application as proof of completion of transhipment.
(2) The reconciliation of transhipment of consignments shall be carried out on the basis of trip report, by the proper officer at the Ports of Kolkata, Haldia or Visakhapatnam, as the case may be, and the general bond submitted by the authorised carrier will be re-credited or discharged.

FORM
(See regulation 4)
Declaration of transshipment
(To be filed in triplicate)

(Gunjan Kumar Verma)
Under Secretary to the Government of India
[F. No. 554/02/2014-LC (Pt)]