The Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC) on Thursday announced that it has introduced liberalised Authorised Economic Operator package for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs)
CBIC aims to encourages all eligible MSMEs to avail advantages of faster Customs clearances and other related benefits.
To attract MSMEs to become Authorised Economic Operators (AEOs) the CBIC has relaxed the compliance criteria.
The relaxed requirements allow MSMEs who have filed minimum 10 Customs clearance documents in one year and who have a clean compliance record over two years to apply for the scheme.
The documentary requirements have also been appreciably simplified.
AEO Status
CBIC commits to take a decision on an application for grant of AEO status within only 15 days from electronic submission of complete documents for AEO Tier T1.
Additional benefits, like further reduction in bank guarantee requirements, have been introduced for MSMEs, and will be expanded subsequently.
Advantage
The approved AEOs derive various benefits such as, inter alia, the facility of Direct Port Delivery (DPD) of imported containers, Direct Port Entry (DPE) of their export containers, high level of facilitation in customs clearance of their consignments thereby ensuring shorter cargo release time, exemption from bank guarantees, priority for refund/ rebate/ duty drawback, as well as a client relationship manager at the customs port as a single point of interaction.
Another important benefit available to specified AEOs is that their payment of Customs duty is deferred and need not to be paid before the clearance of the imported goods by Customs.
An added advantage for Tier 2 AEOs is that their exports to certain countries are accorded facilitation by the foreign Customs administration with whom India enters into a mutual recognition agreement/arrangement. —The Hindu Business line
(This story has not been edited by Universal Times Magazine staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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