CBIC does away with license renewal requirement for customs brokers, authorized carriers
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has done away with the requirement of periodic renewal of licenses or registrations issued to customs brokers and authorized carriers, a move that will reduce the compliance burden for the business.
The CBIC has amended the Custom Brokers Licensing Regulation, 2018 and the Sea Cargo Manifest and Transshipment Regulation, 2018, providing that all such existing licenses/registrations shall have a lifetime validity.
“The CBIC has done away with the requirement of periodic renewal of licenses/registrations issued to customs brokers and authorized carriers with effect from July 23, 2021.
“This will help reduce the compliance burden on the business, which otherwise would have had to apply and submit multiple documents to renew their licence/registration,” an official statement said.
The lifetime validity of the licenses/registrations is expected to provide a major relief to the business by reducing their compliance burden and promoting ease of doing business in India.
It added that removing the need for periodic renewal also reduces the interface between customs and trade, which is a deliverable of the CBIC’s ‘contactless customs’ initiative, which is its flagship turent border. Fees are an important component of the programme.
Further, the amendments also provide that the licensee/registration holder may voluntarily come forward to surrender his licence/registration if he so desires. Also, a provision has been made to invalidate the license/registration which has been inactive for more than one year.
“These steps will prevent misuse of inoperative licenses/registrations by unscrupulous persons who have wrongly declared imports or exports or wrongly obtained export refunds/incentives and put a burden on the holder of the original license/registration if caught.”
“At the same time, in order to protect the interests of genuine business, the Commissioners of Customs are empowered to revalidate the licence/registration, if the inaction is due to genuine reasons,” the CBIC said.
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