Roll out of Express Cargo Clearance System

Dated 2nd December, 2016 | Copy of | Circular No.58/2016 |

Customs officers facilitate customs clearance of courier parcels, gifts, documents etc. in the Courier Terminals across the country. The clearance provided so far is by filing the Customs documents manually. Since the volume of import/export through the courier mode has shown phenomenal growth, there was an acute need for an advanced automated system on lines of ICES to speed up the clearance process. Further, with the advent of e-commerce in a big way, the requirement for a system based clearance process was felt even more.

2. Express Cargo Clearance System ECCS is an Automation Program developed on PPP model by Express Industry Council of India (EICI). EICI, a representative body of courier/express industry in the country would put up the entire hardware, software and networking for automation. For smooth and seamless operation of ECCS application, ICES and ICEGATE teams at DG System, CBEC, New Delhi will provide all necessary support and help to ensure that the best IT standards are maintained. However, the system would function under the control of the Jurisdictional Customs authorities as in the case of ICES.

3. The new system known as Express Cargo Clearance System (ECCS) would be introduced as a pilot project at Courier Terminal, CSI Airport, Mumbai with effect from 5th December, 2016 to carry out automated assessment and clearance under the Courier Imports and Exports (Electronic Declaration and Processing) Regulations, 2010.

4. EICI shall provide the software application for Automation, as per the requirements projected by Directorate General of Systems, for Customs clearance process of Express Cargo at the Courier Terminal, CSI Airport, Mumbai on a turn-key basis, including all hardware, network, security, Data Centre Services, operations and maintenance including helpdesk, etc. as may be required for the smooth functioning of this system. All intellectual property arising out of ECCS including source code, documents and artifacts shall be owned by and belong to the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC).

5. The operation of ECCS and related services shall be provided under the guidance, supervision, direction and control of the Directorate of Systems & Data Management, Central Board of Excise and Customs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India. Standard guidelines regarding change management, providing data to CBEC, business continuity and disaster recovery, security requirements, information security and audit, documentation and reporting requirements and application training requirements etc. will be provided by Directorate General of Systems and Data Management, New Delhi.

6. In this regard, it is requested that suitable Public Notice, be issued. Chief Commissioners/Principal Commissioners/Commissioner of Customs who have functioning courier terminal in their jurisdiction may be in touch with the Commissioner of Customs, CSI Airport, Mumbai, to obtain feedback about the functioning of ECCS which would come in handy at the time of expanding the coverage of automated courier clearances to other stations.

7. Any difficulty in implementation of the pilot project may be brought to the notice of the Directorate of Systems & Data Management under the Central Board of Excise and Customs.

Sd/-
(Zubair Riaz)
Director (Customs)