CUSTOM HOUSE AGENT-DECENT SEA AIR LOGISTICS SUBMITTED BY : MORISHA BANSAL

CUSTOMS HOUSE AGENT  A Customs House Agent (CHA) is licensed to act as an agent for transaction of any business relating to the entry or departure of conveyances or the import or export of goods at a customs station. CHAs maintain detailed, itemized and up-to- date accounts. A CHA license may be temporary or permanent.

LIABILITIES ON A CHA Section 146 of the Customs Act is the enabling provision, which allows agents of importers and exporters to act on behalf of importers and exporters. Highly technical work in connection with clearance of imports into and exports out of country. The importers and exporters themselves may have neither time nor the requisite knowledge on their own.

LIABILITIES ON A CHA Therefore, agents are allowed to act on their behalf. The work of the agents is governed by Customs House Agents Licensing Regulations, 1984 framed under this section read with Section 157. 

ESSENTIAL FEATURES OF CHA LICENSING REGULATIONS, 1984 No ceiling for number of CHAs who can be appointed in a Customs House. Issue of regular licence is preceded by a period of grant of temporary licence. Prescribing criteria of experience and financial soundness for appointment. Grant of regular licence is subject to passing examination, satisfying minimum volume of business and complying with obligations under Regulation No.14.

ESSENTIAL FEATURES OF CHA LICENSING REGULATIONS, 1984 Change in the constitution of partnership or firm not to affect the operations of CHA. Commissioners have been empowered to prescribe fees to prevent excess billing by the CHAs

Duties and Obligations of a CHA Clearances only against authorization Method of transacting business Personal interests of CHA Duty to tender correct advise Accounting for money received

APPLICATION FOR LICENCE Under Regulation 4, every January, the Commissioner of Customs has to notify and advertise and call for applications from persons for acting as CHAs within his jurisdiction. Individuals, firms and companies can act as CHAs. In case of firms and companies, the application has to give the particulars of partner or director who will actually do the work of clearance of goods at the Customs station. Applications made by the firms or companies should contain full details of the directors or partners

QUALIFICATIONS OF AN APPLICANT The applicant individual working for a firm or a company should be: A graduate from a recognized University.  Should hold a pass in Form G as employee of the firm / company. Should have engaged in Customs clearance work for three years.

QUALIFICATIONS OF AN APPLICANT Should possess assets of Rs.1 lakhs or Rs.50,000/- as certified by a scheduled bank. Reliability of the applicant and soundness of financial status are very important criteria. If there are too many applicants than the licenses that can be granted, the Commissioner has to select persons for licensing by seniority of holding G pass. If there are two persons of same seniority, the older person will be preferred [Regulation 8(3)].

DEPARTMENTAL CLARIFICATIONS  Qualification  Various Custom Houses has prescribed certain volume of business as qualification for considering application for regular licences: 150 documents per year (for ex: shipping bill or bill of entry)  Clearance or shipment 1500 packages per year.  Clearance or shipment of packages of value not less than Rs.60 lakhs.

TEMPORARY LICENCE(Regulation 8) After scrutinizing and accepting the application a temporary licence for a period of one year is granted under Regulation 8 in Form B.  Before receiving the temporary or regular licence, the applicant has to go through another important step.   He is required to execute a bond and give a surety or bank guarantee in Forms D and E. For major ports , the surety amount is Rs.25000/-   For other ports, it is Rs.10000/. Surety may also be given in the form of National Savings Certificates or postal security

CURRICULUM [REGULATION 9(3)] Preparation of various kinds of bill of entry and shipping bill. Arrival entry and clearance of vessels. Tariff classification and rates of duty. Determination of value for assessment. Conversion of currency. Nature and description of documents to be filed with various kinds of bills of entry and shipping bill.

CURRICULUM [REGULATION 9(3)]  Procedures for assessment and payment of duty.  Examination of merchandise at the Customs stations.  Provisions of the Trade and Merchandise Marks Act,1958.  Prohibitions on imports and exports.  Bonding procedure and clearance from bond.

CURRICULUM [REGULATION 9(4)] Although not a part of curriculum, the Commissioner has to satisfy himself that the applicant-candidate has good knowledge of English and local language of Customs station. For a person working exclusively in docks, knowledge of English is not compulsory. But, knowledge of Hindi will be considered as advantageous. [Regulation 9(4)].

 EXAMINATIONS The candidate will have three opportunities to pass the examination within two years. One may take examinations as soon as temporary licence is granted. The examination fee is Rs.500/-per appearance.  There will be two examinations each year. There will be both oral and written examinations. A person who passes written examination but fails in oral examination is treated as failed. But, he need not write examination again.

EXAMINATIONS (REGULATIONS 5 AND 6) Where the applicant is an individual, it is the same person who holds the temporary licence and also writes the examination. On the other hand, if the applicant is a firm or company, the person who writes the examination is an employee of the firm or company. But the temporary or regular licence may be issued in the name of the firm or company..

REGULAR LICENCE An application for regular licence can be made by a person who has passed the examinations. Application for regular licence is made in Form C. Licence fee is Rs.5000/-.

CONDITIONS TO BE SATISFIED FOR OBTAINING REGULAR LICENCE The conduct of the applicant during the period of holding temporary licence must be business like. There should be no delay in clearance of goods or in payment of duty on account of conduct of the applicant. There should be no complaint of misconduct of the applicant. There also should not be any complaint of non- compliance of provision of Regulation 14, which casts some important obligations on the CHAs.

DISQUALIFICATIONS FOR REGULAR LICENCE Sub-regulation (3) provides that the Commissioner may reject the application of a person who fails to qualify in the examination. It further provides that if performance criteria is  not satisfied (regarding quantity and value of clearances or conduct), the application may be rejected. A representation can be made against an order of rejection within 30 days to Chief Commissioner

WORKING IN OTHER CUSTOMS STATIONS A person holding regular licence can work in all Customs stations as a CHA.  If a place has both sea port and international air port, there is no need to seek the facility of separate licence from each place. 

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MISSION To deliver quality logistic services and efficiently meet the varied consignment related demands of our clients. MENTOR They are led by Mr. Ajitpal Singh who has with him valuable industry experience in the field of forwarding and custom clearance, import and customs clearance, warehousing & packaging. He also has the expertise in handling custom tailored projects, setting up call centers/private bonded warehouse, inventory management, international freight forwarding, transportation, govt. licensing, warehousing, distribution and other ancillary services.

RANGE OF SERVICES Import logistics services Export Import shipping arranging material imports customs clearance transportation & warehousing material handling& packaging International freight forwarding container stuffing exporting, marketing and distribution and many more.

OCEAN FREIGHT SERVICES Our ocean carriers are available to meet the challenges and deadlines of your overseas shipping itinerary, whether it be automobile or motorcyle shipping for individuals or shows. We can ship FCL (full container load) or LCL (less than container load) shipments anywhere in the world - door to door

CUSTOMISED CARGO MANAGEMENT SERVICE » Custom Clearance & Forwarding. » Full-container-load (FCL) Consolidation. » Less-than-container-load (LCL) Consolidation. » On-The-Spot/Factory Stuffing of Containers. » Multi-Modal Transport Operators. » Infrastructure & Services Facilities at all sea Ports and Dry Ports.

CUSTOMISED CARGO MANAGEMENT SERVICE » Dry or liquid bulk shipments . » Refrigerated Services for living animals and perishable products.  » Insurance and packing options » Customs warehousing » Automated documentation » Cargo tracking system

AIR FREIGHT They handle all airfreight shipments in the most professional, reliable and expeditious means possible. They have been meeting our customers' air freight needs ever since our establishment with fast, efficient service and an on-time performance record that is second to none. They indulge in airport-to-airport service. They choose appropriate carrier for your shipment

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IMPORT CONSOLIDATION Offer volume shipment discounts, charter and part charter rates for air movement of your cargo. Provides for logistics consultations. Keep Track of constantly changing rules & regulations of the Customs, Bank & Other Government department for our customers benefit.

IMPORT CONSOLIDATION Our consolidation service offers the advantages of competitive freight rates, competitive insurance premiums, reduced risk of pilferage and reduced packing costs. We make all arrangements for combining of goods at origin, and separation of cargo at destination.

SERVICE CHARGES  Every CHA has to enroll himself as a member of a CHA association registered with the Custom House and recognized by the Commissioner. Regulation 25 confers power on the Commissioner to fix rates which may be charged to the client for services rendered by the CHA. This is done in consultation with a recognized association of CHAs. The CHAs are required to strictly adhere to these rates. 

RECORDS TO BE MAINTAINED BY THE CHA  CHAs have to maintain detailed, itemized and upto date books of accounts. The accounts should reflect all financial transactions entered into as a CHA. A copy of all documents such as shipping bill, bill of entry, transhipment application etc. filed must be maintained by the CHA for atleast five years. These records should be made available for inspection by the officers of the department.

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