Goods imported in a vessel/aircraft attract customs duty and unless these are not meant for customs clearance at the port/airport of arrival by particular vessel/aircraft and are intended for transit by the same vessel/aircraft or transshipment to another customs station or to any place outside India, detailed customs clearance formalities of the landed goods have to be followed by the importers.
For other goods, which are offloaded importers, have the option to clear the goods for home consumption after payment of the duties leviable or to clear them for warehousing without immediate discharge of the duties leviable in terms of the warehousing provisions built in the Customs Act.
- If the goods are cleared through the EDI system no formal Bill of Entry is filed as it is generated in the computer system, but the importer is required to file a cargo declaration having prescribed particulars required for processing of the entry for customs clearance.
- The Bill of entry, where filed, is to be submitted in a set, different copies meant for different purposes and also given different color scheme, and on the body of the bill of entry the purpose for which it will be used is generally mentioned in the non-EDI declaration.
- The importer clearing the goods for domestic consumption has to file bill of entry in four copies; original and duplicate are meant for customs, third copy for the importer and the fourth copy is meant for the bank for making remittances.