Customs Brokers Licensing Regulations, 2018
Customs Notification
No. 41 /2018-Customs (N.T.)
Dated May 14, 2018.
Customs Brokers Licensing Regulations, 2018
In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (2) of section 146 of the Customs Act, 1962 (52 of 1962), and in supersession of the Customs Brokers Licensing Regulations, 2013, published vide number G.S.R. 395 (E), dated the 21st June, 2013, except as respect things done or omitted to be done before such supersession, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs hereby makes the following regulations, namely:-
1. Short title, commencement and application. –
(1) These regulations may be called the Customs Brokers Licensing Regulations, 2018.
(2) They shall come into force on the date of publication in the Official Gazette.
(3) These regulations shall apply to, a Customs Broker who has been licensed and such other persons who have been employed or engaged by a licensed Customs Broker under these regulations or the Customs House Agents Licensing Regulations, 1984 or the Customs House Agents Licensing Regulations, 2004 or the Customs Brokers Licensing Regulations, 2013.
(4) Every license granted or renewed under these regulations shall be deemed to have been granted or renewed in favour of the licensee, and no license shall be sold or otherwise transferred.
2. Definitions.- (1)In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires,
(a) “Aadhaar number” means an identification number issued to an individual under subsection (3) of section 3 of The Aadhaar(Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 (18 of 2016);
(b) “Act” means the Customs Act, 1962 (52 of 1962);
(c) “company” means a company as defined in the Companies Act, 2013(18 of 2013);
(d) “Customs Broker” means a person licensed under these regulations to act as an agent on behalf of the importer or an exporter for purposes of transaction of any business relating to the entry or departure of conveyances or the import or export of goods at any Customs Station including audit;
(e) “firm”, “firm name”, “partner” and “partnership” shall have the same meanings respectively assigned to them in the Indian Partnership Act, 1932 (9 of 1932), but the expression “partner” shall also include any person who, being a minor, has been admitted to the benefits of partnership;
(f) “Form” means the form appended to these regulations;
(g) “F card holder” means a person who has passed the examination referred to in regulation 6 and has been issued a photo identity card in Form F;
(h) “G card holder” means a person who has passed the examination referred to in regulation 13 and has been issued a photo identity card in Form G;
(i) “H card holder” means a person who has not passed the examination referred to in regulation 13 and has been issued a photo identity card in Form H;
(j) “PAN” is the Permanent Account Number issued under section 139A of the Income Tax Act, 1961(43 of 1961);
(k) “GSTIN” means a 15 digit state-wise PAN- based Goods and Services Tax Identification Number assigned at the time of issue of Goods and Services Tax registration certificate.
(l) “section” means a section of the Act.
(2) The words and expressions used herein and not defined in these regulations but defined in the Act shall have the same meanings respectively assigned to them in the said Act.
3. Customs Brokers to be licensed.- No person shall carry on business as a Customs Broker relating to the entry or departure of a conveyance or the import or export of goods including work relating to audit at any Customs station unless such person holds a license granted under these regulations:
Provided that no license under these regulations shall be required by-
(a) an importer or exporter transacting any business at a Customs Station solely on his own account;
(b) any employee of any person or a firm transacting business generally on behalf of such person or firm, and holding an identity card or a temporary pass issued by the Deputy Commissioner of Customs or Assistant Commissioner of Customs, as the case may be; and
(c) an agent employed for one or more vessels or aircrafts in order solely to enter or clear such vessels or aircrafts for work incidental to his employment as such agent.
4. Invitation of application.- (1) The Directorate General of Performance Management (DGPM) shall in the month of April of every year invite applications for conducting examination and subsequent grant of license to act as Customs Broker in Form A by publication in two leading national daily newspapers in English and Hindi in addition to disseminating the information on the web portal.
(2) The application for a license to act as a Customs Broker in a Customs Station in Form A along with a fee of five hundred rupees shall be made to the Principal Commissioner of Customs or Commissioner of Customs, as the case may be, having jurisdiction over the area where the applicant intends to carry on his business.
5. Conditions to be fulfilled by the applicants.- (1) The applicant for a license to act as a Customs Broker in a Customs Station, shall before applying to the Principal Commissioner of Customs or Commissioner of Customs, meet the following conditions that: –
(a) he is a citizen of India;
(b) he is a person of sound mind;
(c) he is not adjudicated as insolvent;
(d) he holds an Aadhaar number;
(e) he holds a valid PAN card;
(f) he has not been penalised for any offence under the Act, the Central Excise Act, 1944 (1 of 1944), the Finance Act, 1994 (32 of 1994), the Central Goods and Services Act, 2017 (12 of 2017) and Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (13 of 2017);
(g) he has neither been convicted by a competent court for an offence nor any criminal proceeding is pending against him in any court of law;
(h) an individual applicant or in case the applicant is a firm, its partner or in the case of a company, its director or an authorised employee who may handle the Customs work shall-
(i) be a graduate from a recognized University; and
(ii) possess a professional degree such as Masters or equivalent degree in Accounting, Finance or Management, CA/CS/MBA/LLM/ACMA/FCMA or Diploma in Customs Clearance work from any Institutes or University recognised by the Government or is having at least two years’ experience in transacting Customs Broker work as G-Card holder;
(i) the applicant has financial viability as evidenced by a certificate issued by a Scheduled Bank or such other proof acceptable to the Principal Commissioner of Customs or Commissioner of Customs, as the case may be, in terms of possession of assets of value of not less than five lakhs rupees.
(2) A retired Group A officer from the Indian Revenue Service(Customs and Central Excise)having a minimum of five years’ experience in Group ‘A’ post shall also be eligible to apply for a license to act as a Customs Broker provided he satisfies the conditions specified at (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), (g) and (i)of sub-regulation (1) above.
(3) The Principal Commissioner or Commissioner of Customs, as the case may be, may for the purpose of this regulation, make such enquiries to verify the eligibility of the applicant as he may deem fit before forwarding the application to Directorate General of Performance Management.
6. Examination of the applicant. – (1) An applicant, who satisfies the requirements of regulation 5, shall be required to appear for a written (preferably online) as well as oral examination conducted by the Directorate General of Performance Management:
Provided that an applicant who has already passed the examination referred to in regulation 9 of the Custom House Agents Licensing Regulation, 1984 or regulation 8 of the Custom House Agents Licensing Regulation, 2004 or regulation 6 of the Customs Brokers Licensing Regulations, 2013 shall not be required to appear for any further examination.
(2) The written examination shall be conducted on specified dates in the month of January of each year for which intimation shall be sent individually to applicants in advance before the date of examination and the result of the said examination shall be declared by end of May each year.
(3) The applicant who is declared successful in the written examination shall be called for an oral examination on specified dates in the month of June of each year, the result of which shall be declared in the month of July of each year.
(4) The applicant shall be required to clear both the written examination as well as corresponding oral examination.
(5) An attempt at the written exam shall be deemed to be an attempt and notwithstanding the disqualification/ cancellation of application, the fact of appearance of the applicant at the examination will count as an attempt.
(6) An applicant shall be allowed a maximum of six attempts to clear the examination.
(7) The examination may include questions on the following:
(a) preparation of various kinds of bills of entry, bills of export, shipping bills, and other clearance documents;
(b) arrival entry and clearance of vessels;
(c) tariff classification and rates of duty;
(d) determination of value of imported and export goods;
(e) conversion of currency;
(f) nature and description of documents to be filed with various kinds of bills of entry, shipping bills and other clearance documents;
(g) procedure for assessment and payment of duty including refund of duty paid;
(h) examination of goods at Customs Stations;
(i) prohibitions on import and export;
(j) bonding procedure and clearance from bond;
(k) re-importation and conditions for free re-entry;
(l) drawback and export promotion schemes including the Special Economic Zone scheme;
(m) offences under the Act;
(n) provisions of the allied Acts including the Central Goods and Services Act, 2017 (12 of 2017) and section 5 of the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (13 of 2017), the Indian Explosives Act, 1884 (4 of 1884), the Destructive Insects and Pests Act 1914 (2 of 1914), the Dangerous Drugs Act, 1930 (2 of 1930), the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 (23 of 1940), the Central Excise Act, 1944 (1 of 1944), the Copyright Act, 1957 (14 of 1957), the Trade and Merchandise Marks Act 1958 (43 of 1958), the Arms Act 1959 (54 of 1959), the Patents Act, 1970 (39 of 1970), the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (61 of 1985), the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 (29 of 1986), the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulations) Act, 1992 (22 of 1992), the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (42 of 1999), the Design Act, 2000 (16 of 2000) and the Food Safety and Standard Act, 2006 (No. 34 of 2006) and other laws for the time being in force applicable to EXIM trade and the rules and regulations made under these Acts in so far as they are relevant to clearance of goods through Customs;
(o) provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (49 of 1998);
(p) procedure for appeal and revision applications under the Act; and
(q) online filing of electronic bills of entry and shipping bills vide the Indian Customs and Central Excise Electronic Commerce or Electronic data interchange gateway (ICEGATE) and Indian Customs Electronic data Interchange System (ICES).
(r) knowledge of regulations, rules, notifications, etc. under the Customs Act and other Allied Acts.
(8) The Principal Commissioner of Customs or Commissioner of Customs shall satisfy himself that the individual applicant or in cases where applicant is a firm or company, its partner or Director or authorised employees who may be engaged for handling the customs work shall possess satisfactory knowledge of English and the local language of the Customs Station:
Provided that in case of a person deputed to work extensively in the docks, knowledge of English shall not be compulsory and knowledge of Hindi shall be considered as desirable qualification.
7. Grant of License.- (1) The applicant who has passed the written as well as oral examination shall make a payment of a fee of five thousand rupees within two months of the declaration of the results of the oral examination and inform the payment particulars to the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner of Customs referred to in sub-regulation (2) of regulation 4 and the said Principal Commissioner or Commissioner shall, on verification of the payment particulars grant license to the applicant within one month of the payment of the said fee:
Provided that where the successful applicant fails to make the payment of the said fee within the stipulated period, the right to be granted a license to an applicant shall be forfeited.
(2) The applicant who has paid the fee referred to in sub-regulation (1) shall be granted a license by the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner of Customs,as below:-
(a) An individual shall be granted the license in Form B1 if that individual has passed the examination referred to in regulation 6.
(b) A customs broker’s license may be granted to any company, firm or association in Form B2 if at least one director, partner, or an authorised employee, as the case may be, has passed the examination referred to in regulation 6:
Provided that at any given time such director, partner or an authorised employee shall not engage himself for transacting business under these regulations on behalf of more than one such firm or company:
Provided further that where a company or a firm which has been granted a license under this regulation undergoes any change in the directors, or managing director or partner, such change shall forthwith be communicated by such licensee to the Principal Commissioner of Customs or Commissioner of Customs, as the case may be, within one month of such change:
Provided also that where a company or a firm which has been granted a license under this regulation undergoes any change whereby there is a change in the PAN, the licensee shall apply for a fresh license to the Principal Commissioner of Customs or Commissioner of Customs, as the case may be, within sixty days of such change.
(3) The applicant who has been granted license under sub-regulation (2) shall be eligible to work as Customs Broker in all Customs Stations subject to intimation in Form C to the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner of Customs of the Customs Station where he intends to transact business and a copy of this intimation shall also be sent to the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner of Customs who has issued the license in Form B1 or FormB2, as the case may be.
(4) A customs broker shall be eligible to transact business under these regulations at a customs station which requires intimation under the said Form C, subject to the condition that such customs broker shall be able to transact such business only after a period of two years from the date of issue of license in Form B1 or Form B2:
Provided that the said period of two years shall be waived in respect of a license issued to a customs broker under the respective provisions of the Customs House Agents Licensing Regulations, 1984 or the Customs House Agents Licensing Regulations, 2004 or the Customs Brokers Licensing Regulations, 2013:
Provided further that the period of two years referred to in sub-regulation (4) shall not be applicable where the intimation under the said Form C is to the Principal Commissioner or the Commissioner of Customs, as the case may be, referred to in sub-regulation (2) of regulation 4.
8. Execution of bond and furnishing of security.- (1) Before granting the license under regulation 7, the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner of Customs shall require the successful applicant to enter into a bond in Form D and where specified a surety bond in Form E for due observance of these regulations and furnish a bank guarantee, ora postal security or National Saving Certificate or a fixed deposit receipt issued by a nationalised bank, in the name of the Principal Commissioner of Customs or Commissioner of Customs, as the case may be, for an amount of five lakhs rupees for carrying out the business as a Customs Broker.
(2) In cases where a postal security or National Saving Certificate or a fixed deposit receipt is furnished, the benefit of interest on the instrument shall accrue to the Customs Broker concerned.
Sd/-
B. Konthoujam
Under Secretary to the Government of India
Issued by:
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
(Department of Revenue)
(Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs)
New Delhi