TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
All India roll-out of Faceless Assessment
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.... is a critical reform. The pilot programme of Faceless Assessment was launched in Chennai on 14.08.2019 for electrical machineries falling under Chapter 85 of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975. These pilot programmes were followed by the launch Of Phase I of Faceless Assessment on 05.06.2020, Phase Il of Faceless Assessment, which was begun on 03.08.2020 at Customs formations in Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi, [Or goods falling under the Chapters 50 to 71, 84, 85 and 86 to 92 of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 and at Customs formations in Ahmedabad, for goods failing under the Group - 2G (Plastics) of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975. 4. CBIC has issued Circular No. 40/2020 dated 04.09.2020 for All India roll-out of faceless assessment at all ports of import for all imported goods by 31.10.2020. For imports made at field formations of Customs Commissionerate, Jamnagar, the faceless assessment shall rollout in the following phases and as per the dates shown therein: a) Phase Ill on 15.09.2020 for Groups 2G, 4, 5, 5A and 5B b) Phase IV on 01.10.2020 for Groups IA, QA, 2K and 3  ....
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....ustoms Automated System as well as the bills of entry that are referred by the Faceless Assessment Group to the port of import. It is clarified that the port of import is the Customs formations where the importer has entered that Bill of Entry under Section 46 or Section 68 of Customs Act, 1962 for home consumption or warehousing. 7. Responsibilities of the Port of Import: The ports of import would continue to have the Port Assessment Group(s) to cater to all other functions pertaining to the bills of entry which are not marked to the Faceless Assessment Group by the Customs Automated System, including the cases referred by the Faceless Assessment Group to the Customs station of import for any reason. In addition, the port of import would continue to be responsible for handling the examination/inspection of goods and all other functions other than assessment. The request for waiver of fee for late filing of bill of entry, request in relation to Section 49 of the Customs Act, 1962 and request for permission under Section 48 of the Customs Act, 1962 shall also be processed by the designa....
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....ificate of Origin, Certificate for claiming duty exemption etc., if required for the consignment, on e-Sanchit. As at present, the selection of a bill of entry for verification of self- assessment shall primarily be on the basis of risk evaluation through appropriate selection criteria. 9.1.2 In cases where the importer has prior knowledge that there is a requirement of execution of Bond or Bank guarantee for the assessment of the said bill of entry, such as in the case of a warehouse bill of entry or where the importer has sought provisional assessment or where a claim to any concessional rate of duty or exemption under duty remission [exemption schemes is subject to filing of Bond/ Bank Guarantee, they are encouraged to opt for Continuity Bond option, to avoid fresh registration of Bonds every time during filing of bill of entry. 9.1.3 The bill of entry would be assigned to an officer of the concerned Faceless Assessment Group for verification of assessment purposes by the Customs Automated System. 9.1.4 For verification of assessment of the bill of entry, the Faceles....
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....of goods is required for proper verification of the assessment, based on own assessment or on the request from importer: a) The Faceless Assessment Group may order for first check examination or testing of the goods with specific directions or testing parameters to the shed officers at the port of import. The responsibility for sending the samples to the appropriate laboratory with the requisite test memo, if ordered by Faceless Assessment Group, would lie with the shed officers at the port of import. b) The shed officers/ Centralised Cell, as the case may be at the port of import would feed the examination and/or the test report, when it is received from the laboratory, in the system and refer the bill of entry back to Faceless Assessment Group, and there upon, Faceless Assessment Group shall follow the procedure as laid down in paragraph IV to VI of para 5.3.1 of instruction No. 09/2020-Customs dated 05.06.2020, as applicable. c) If the Faceless Assessment Group concludes that the prior testing of goods is going to take considerable time and the bill of entry should b....
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....roper officer of the Faceless Assessment Groups may, with the approval of a senior officer not below the rank of Joint Commissioner/ Additional Commissioner, transfer the bill of entry using the Customs Automated System to PAG at the port of import for assessment, without completion of verification of assessment. The Faceless Assessment Groups may also transfer a bill of entry to the PAG in any other exceptional circumstances, but in this case, this would be done after due approval from the Commissioner supervising the proper officer. (a) Where the Faceless Assessment Group has reasons to believe that the imported goods may be liable for confiscation as per the provisions of Section 111 of the Customs Act, 1962. In such circumstance, the reasons for such a transfer shall be duly recorded in the Customs Automated System. However, such cases may be referred to only in genuinely exceptional circumstances. (b) In respect of related party- transactions warranting investigation by SVB (other than cases that are already covered by an earlier order of the SVB such as in the case of....
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....ssment passed by Faceless Assessment Groups shall lie before the Commissioner (Appeals) as per Notification No. 85/2020-Customs (N.T.) dated 04.09.2020. Thus, an appeal against an order passed by the proper officer of the Faceless Assessment Group as per Section 17 (5) and/or Section 18, would lie with the Commissioner of Customs (Appeals) having jurisdiction over the port of import. To illustrate, Commissioners of Customs (Appeals) at Bengaluru would decide appeals filed for imports at Bengaluru though the Faceless Assessment officer is located at any other port of the country, say Delhi. 9.6 Review Proceedings The review of any speaking order on re-assessment passed by a proper officer of Faceless Assessment Groups, under sub-section (2) of Section 129D of the Customs Act, 1962, shall lie with the reviewing authority having administrative control over the that proper officer of the Faceless Assessment Group. 9.7 Demands under Section 28 of the Customs Act, 1962 Issuing of demands under Section 28 of the Customs Act, 1962, adjudication thereof and handl....