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Providing relief to custodians of Inland Container Depots (ICDs) and Container Freight Stations (CFSs) across the country, the Central Board of Indirect Taxed and Customs (CBIC) on Tuesday streamlined the procedure of closure of these facilities giving deadlines to complete the process in shortest possible time.

Accordingly, it had now been decided that such closure will be effected in a maximum period of four months. No timeline was specified earlier.

ICDs and CFS play a vital role in the exim trade as they store and clear import and export goods. These facilities are notified under the Customs Act, 1962 and are administered by the Customs authorities.

However, at times a custodian may like to close (de-notify) the facility. The disposal of un-cleared, seized and confiscated goods import/export are prerequisites for the de-notification. The CBIC has noted that this process was taking a long time which caused difficulties for the custodians.

The newly issued Circular now requires a custodian intending to wind up the operation to submit an application to jurisdictional Principal Commissioner/Commissioner of Customs for de-notifying the ICD/CFS. A Nodal Officer at the level of Deputy/Assistant Commissioner of Customs would then facilitate the de-notification by coordinating the disposal of the goods lying at the facility in a time bound manner.

The new procedure would ensure undue cost and time over runs are avoided. Importantly, the de-notification shall be completed within a maximum of four months from the date of receipt of complete application. This is yet another trade facilitation initiative by CBIC.