Government of India

Ministry of Finance,

Department of Revenue

(Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs)

All Principal Chief Commissioners/Chief Commissioners (Customs/Customs (Preventive)/Customs & Central Tax),

All Principal Commissioners/Commissioners of Customs/Customs (Preventive), All Principal Director General/Director Generals under CBIC.

Subject: Implementation of the Sea Cargo Manifest and Transshipment Regulations (SCMTR)-reg.

Madam/Sir,

Kind attention is invited to the Notification No. 57/2024-Customs (N.T.) dated 31st August, 2024 vide which phase-wise implementation of the Sea Cargo Manifest and Transshipment Regulations (SCMTR) has been notified.

2. The SCMTR seeks to bring about transparency, predictability of movement, advance collection of information for expeditious risk-based Customs clearance. The regulations stipulate the obligations, the roles and responsibilities, for the various stakeholders involved in the movement of imported/exported goods. The regulations also specify the changes to the formats and timelines for filing the manifest declarations. Board Circular No. 43/2020-Customs dated 30th September, 2020 has elaborated more on the above aspects.

3. As the transitional provision under Regulation 15 (2), the old formats have continued to be accepted, thereby giving sufficient time for complying with the new formats in a phased manner.

4. It has now been decided by the Board to implement SCMTR in a phased manner in terms of the Notification No. 57/2024-Customs (N.T.) dated 31st August, 2024.

Implementation of the SCMTR at different ports shall be as follows:

As per the dates mentioned in column no. (3) of the table above, filing only in the new format as per SCMTR will become mandatory. Therefore, the stakeholders are advised to start filing immediately in the new format on a parallel basis on priority, as failure of the same may negatively impact the cargo clearance times for those consignments after the same becomes mandatory on effective date.

5. The Chief Commissioners of Customs are requested to closely monitor the progress of implementation of the roll-out of SCMTR for the ports coming under their jurisdiction.

6. This Circular may be given wide publicity by issue of suitable Trade Notice/Public Notice. The Officers under your jurisdiction may be sensitized to handhold the stakeholders for filing in the format under SCMTR and be at readiness at the end of this extension. Difficulties, if any, in the implementation of the above Circular may be brought to the notice of the Board.

Yours faithfully,

R. Ananth Director

(Customs)