Guidelines for conduct of personal hearings in virtual mode under Customs Act, 1962

Virtual personal hearings via video conferencing preserve procedural participation and treat hearing records as valid electronic documents.

Parties may consent to conduct personal hearings under the Customs Act, 1962 via video conferencing; authorities will notify date, time and a secure link and require scanned vakalatnama/ID by official email. Oral submissions will be reduced to a written record of personal hearing and emailed in PDF within one day; parties may return signed modifications within three days or be deemed to agree. Documents may be self-attested and emailed within three days. Such records are deemed documents under section 138C read with the Information Technology Act, and the procedure applies mutatis mutandis to related enactments.