The Board has got references from several ministries and commerce to enable the rail transportation of containerized freight from Bangladesh into India. A request was also received from Bangladesh's High Commissioner in New Delhi, who informed that containers travelling from India to Bangladesh by rail are returning empty after delivering India's export goods. Companies in Bangladesh have expressed interest in using such empty containers to export their products to India.

The Bangladeshi request calls for the use of empty containers returning from Bangladesh after delivering Indian export products. The carrier will be Indian Railways trains travelling between India and Bangladesh, bringing India's containerized export products to Bangladesh (forward voyage) and returning to India with Bangladesh's export goods in the same containers (return journey). Trains will cross the international border in both directions via one of the specified land customs stations with rail routes, namely Petrapole-Benapole and Gede-Darshana.

It has been decided that the empty containers returning from Bangladesh to India on a train may be utilised to carry export goods from Bangladesh to India. This applies to closed containers transported on Indian Railways trains by the Container Corporation of India (CONCOR). While the train will enter India via the LCS of Petrapole or Gede, it will be permitted to transit to any ICD in India for customs processing. The transportation must be tracked via the Electronic Cargo Tracking System (ECTS) from the LCS of entrance to the ICD of destination.

The CBIC has prescribed a procedure for the movement and clearance of goods imported in containers on trains returning from Bangladesh.

As required under Section 53, CONCOR shall file an Import Report on ICEGATE when the train arrives at the LCS. The Import Report shall capture, inter alia, details of the destination ICD, the serial number of each container carrying export goods from Bangladesh and the serial number of the ECTS seals which shall be put on such containers, in the manner prescribed by the said Commissioner.

Containers must be sealed with ECTS seals at the LCS under Customs supervision. CONCOR shall be responsible for obtaining ECTS seals from the Managed Service Provider. Customs must compare the ECTS seal number to the number recorded in the import report and the ECTS seal integrity after the containers have been sealed and the import report has been filed.officer at the LCS shall make an entry in the ICES System acknowledging the arrival of the train, upon which the bond shall be debited for an amount determined on the basis of the details available in the Import Report. Customs shall perform random checks and intelligence-based preventive action, and then allow the train with duly sealed containerized cargo to move to the destination ICD.

While the goods are in transit between the LCS and the ICD, the customs officer at the LCS must monitor the movement on the ECTS web portal on a regular basis.If there is any unauthorised un-sealing, tampering, or other activity, the ECTS seals generate alerts.These alerts are transmitted to the customs officer through SMS on mobile phones and also via email. If the customs officer at LCS receives any such alert, he shall immediately inform the destination ICD in respect of the affected containers. Where appropriate, he shall also inform the Customs formation nearest to the container location of any possible preventive action.

Where any alert of unauthorised unsealing is noticed or a seal is found tampered, the customs officer at the ICD shall initiate necessary action to safeguard revenue, in addition to any other action required to be taken under the extant law.

Based on the Cargo Arrival Report filed by the Custodian of ICD in ICEGATE and the trip report generated on the ECTS web application, the bond shall be credited by the officer of the concerned LCS.

"The importer(s) shall file Bill(s) of Entry at the destination ICD, where the imported goods will be assessed to duty and cleared as usual," the CBIC said.

Circular No. 08/2022

Dated: 17.05.2022