The website of Central Board of Excise of Customs (CBEC) is now very user friendly. The customs, excise and service tax links take you to the related acts, rules, notifications, circulars, forms, tariffs and manuals quite quickly.
Special links are provided for travellers, couriers, import of gifts. There are also direct links for grievances, tele-enquiry and help-mail. Links are provided to not only the government websites but non-govt websites as well. The search feature is very useful.
The section on travellers gives information about duty-free entitlements for residents, tourists and persons transferring residence in lucid tables.
Links to import of passengers cars, professional equipment, cigarettes, liquor, gold, silver, jewellery, foreign exchange/currency, Indian currency, fire arms and pet animals take you to tables that clearly get across the special conditions applicable to these items.
The section on couriers explains what can be sent through couriers, why certain kind of prohibitions are imposed, what precautions to take when sending samples, what procedures to follow if small parts are send through courier for repairs and re-import.
The FAQ section deals with questions like 'I have a digital photo camera which I bought here in South America. I am working here on an assignment and will return to India after two months. My problem is I don't have the receipt of digital photo camera, which I bought for $400, almost four months ago. How can I prove the actual cost and the usage time of it, at airport for customs duty?'
Here is another FAQ example. 'I am residing in Denmark for the last 14 months and wish to bring a used microwave oven (costing approximately Rs 4,200 (800 DKK) and weighing 15 Kilograms) with me to India. I purchased this oven here in Denmark 6 months back and I have been using this oven for my personal use in my kitchen. Now while coming to India I wish to bring this item with me. I am not aware of Indian customs rules. Please help me with rules and regulations for the above said article and also the amount of custom duty to be paid in case, if this item falls in any category of articles to be charged under customs rules.'
Many such actual queries and their answers have been placed in the FAQ section. It deals with 33 such questions on Customs and 20 questions on excise. There are special sections on import of gifts, narcotics.
Links to Telephone directory and e-mail addresses of most senior officers in the CBEC as well as the Commissionerates and Divisions are given.
Links are provided to 24 other websites of the various commissionerates and CBEC departments. The website on 'customs valuation' is quite a delight. It gives the important rulings of Supreme Court, several WTO rulings on valuation, Nairobi convention on mutual assistance between countries and links to World Customs Organisation and to dedicated websites on incoterms hosted by the International Chamber of Commerce.
As expected, there are some glitches. But, on the whole, the website gives most information to the assessees at no extra cost, at the click of a button. The concerned CBEC officers deserve appreciation.
