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Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Excise & Customs
Directorate of International Customs
Circular No. 26/2018-Customs
New Delhi, August 10th ,2018
All Pr. Chief Commissioner/ Chief Commissioner of Customs/Central Tax,
All Principal Directors General/ Directors General,
All Pr. Commissioner/ Commissioner of Customs/Central Tax,
All Pr. ADG/ ADG
Madam/Sir,
Subject: Simplification and rationalization of processing of AEO-T1 application – reg.
Reference is drawn to the
Circular 33/2016-Customs dated 22.7.2016 as amended. The Indian AEO Programme is governed
by this circular. Multiple suggestions have been received from various field formations, wherein it has been emphasised
that the compliance requirements for AEO T1 are not commensurate with the benefits allowed to AEO T1 entities. The
suggestions also highlighted the fact that this has made it difficult to attract entities into the AEO fold. Consequently,
a review of the aforementioned circular was done and it was felt that the processing of AEO T1 application requires
simplification and rationalization.
Accordingly, it has been decided that the present Annexure for AEO T1 application i.e. Annexure A, C, D, E1,E2,E3 &
E4 shall be hereby replaced with the Annexure 1 and Annexure 2 (enclosed herewith). The processing by way of new annexures,
annexure 1 & 2, will come in effect immediately. All the new applications for AEO T1 are to be mandatorily filed in form of
the new annexures — annexure 1 & 2.
Alongside, to implement the simplified processing and to ensure its desired effectiveness, it is decided by the competent
authority that the process of accreditation of AEO-T1 shall be decentralized to the Zonal level. In this decentralized scheme
of work, the AEO- T1 application will be filed with the Zonal AEO Cell (as already been done by virtue of Circular 3/2018- Cus).
The said application will be processed by the Zonal AEO cell and the final acceptance or rejection will be decided by Zonal AEO
Programme Manager.
[designated Pr. Commissioner/Commissioner rank officer in Customs Zone nominated by Pr. Chief Commissioner/ Chief Commissioner,
Customs]. The Zonal AEO cells will only intimate the decision of Zonal AEO Programme Manager to Directorate of International
Customs for generation of certificate [with relevant information of the applicant— Name, IEC Number & PAN] and statistics management.
However, for the application that have already been received by the Customs Zones prior to the of issuance of this circular,
the Zonal AEO Programme Manager will have discretion to allow the processing of the application either by way of earlier annexures
(Annexure A, C, D, El, E2, E3 & E4) or by way of new annexures (annexure 1 & 2) on case to case basis.
Further, the digitization of processing of AEO T1 application is already underway. The online processing of AEO T1
application will commence as soon as the necessary digital infrastructure is in place.
In the meantime, the processing of new AEO T1 application in form of the new annexures (annexure 1 &2) will come in effect
immediately. This will ensure proper preparedness and adequate time to Customs Zones to take up necessary outreach to the trade,
informing them about the relevant changes as well as imminent automation of AEO T1 application processing, before the process of
transition to digitization is initiated.
The Board
Circular 33/2016-Customs dated 22.7.2016 as amended stands modified to above extent
Wide publicity may please be given to this Circular by way of issuance of Trade/Public Notice.
Difficulties faced, if any, in the implementation of this Circular may be brought to the notice of this office.
F.No. D- 20/DIC/AEO/16/2017
Yours Faithfully,
[Manish Kumar]
Joint Commissioner, DIC
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