Jawaharlal Nehru Customs (JN Customs) is taking urgent steps to resolve the pending issues pertaining to the migration of Indian Customs EDI System (ICES) at Nhava Sheva to version 1.5 from the earlier 1.0.
Giving this assurance in a brief interaction with this paper, Mr. K. R. Bhargava, Chief Commissioner of Customs, JN Custom House, stressed that his office had taken up the problems with authorities like the Directorate-General of Systems and the authorized vendors for redressal at the earliest. "We are hopeful of all the issues being sorted out soon so that the clearance procedures function smoothly and the trade does not suffer," he said.
He underscored that the Department was in constant touch with the authorities in seeking specific solutions for the glitches that remain.
Since the process of migration began on April 1, the trade has been complaining of delayed procedures and the resultant clearance backlog, which they say contributed to trailer detentions and box shut-outs, and delays in clearing import cargo that led to demurrages and detention charges.
While the migration of the old data such as Bills of Entry and Shipping Bills to the 1.5 version went off smoothly, it was the fresh filings like IGMs, EGMs and CGMs in the new system that created problems in the initial few days. The issue with regard to IGMs and EGMs has reportedly been sorted out, and the Department as well as the trade are hopeful of CGM filing too becoming glitch-free very soon.
It was incumbent on shipping agents, CHAs and other stakeholders to re-register with Customs under the new system and validate/verify their details like PAN No., etc. This was necessary and had to be thorough as the data was now to be part of a central server-and not local server as earlier which, in turn, would be connected to a wider network of servers, including the Income-Tax server.
Source : Exim News Service - NAVI MUMBAI, April 24