Notification No.137/2000-Customs dated the 19th October, 2000

Supersedes Notification No. 79/2000-Customs, dated 26th May, 2000

G.S.R. (E). - In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 25 of the Customs Act, 1962 (52 of 1962), the Central Government being satisfied that it is necessary in the public interest so to do and in supersession of the notification of the Government of India in the Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue) No. 79/2000-Customs, dated the 26th May, 2000 [G.S.R. 499(E), dated the 26th May, 2000], except as respects things done or omitted to be done before such supersession, hereby exempts all goods other than those prohibited under the Export and Import Policy (hereinafter referred to as the said goods), falling under the First Schedule to the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 (51 of 1975), when imported into India or procured from a Public Warehouse or a Private Warehouse appointed or licensed, as the case may be, under section 57 or section 58 of the said Customs Act, for the purposes of manufacture of goods, services, production, processing, assembling, trading, repair, reconditioning, re-engineering, packaging or in connection therewith and export thereof (hereinafter referred to as the said purpose) by a unit (hereinafter referred to as the said unit) within a Special Economic Zone (hereinafter referred to as the Zone) as notified by the Government of India in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, from the whole of the duty of customs leviable thereon which is specified in the said First Schedule and from the whole of the additional duty leviable thereon under section 3 of the said Customs Tariff Act, subject to the following conditions, namely:-

(1) The importer has been authorised by the Development Commissioner to establish the said unit in the Zone for the said purpose.

(2) The importer executes a bond in the form specified by the Assistant Commissioner of Customs or Deputy Commissioner of Customs, binding himself-

(i) to bring the said goods into the said unit in the Zone and use them for the said purpose;

(ii) to dispose of the said goods or services, the articles produced manufactured, processed and packaged in the said unit or the waste, scrap and remnants arising out of such production, manufacture, processing or packaging in the manner as provided in the Export and Import Policy and in this notification;

(iii) to achieve positive NFEP (Net Foreign Exchange Earning as a percentage of Export) as provided in paragraph 9.32 of the Export and Import Policy read with the provisions of Handbook of Procedure, Vol. I and to comply with the conditions stipulated in this notification, the relevant provisions of Export and Import Policy and the relevant provisions of Handbook of Procedures, Vol. I and to pay on demand,-

(a) in case of failure to achieve the said positive NFEP, the duty equal in amount to the portion of the duty leviable on the said goods but for the exemption contained in this notification and the duty so payable shall bear the same proportion as the unachieved portion of NFEP bears to the Positive NFEP to be achieved along with interest at the rate of twenty per cent per annum on the said duty to be paid on demand from the date of importation or procurement of the said goods till the payment of such duty.

(b) in case of failure to utilise the said goods for the said purpose with in the period of five years, and amount equal to the duty as leviable on the said unutilized goods along with interest at the rate of twenty per cent per annum on the said duty from the date of importation or procurement of the said unutilized goods till the payment of such duty.

(3) The said unit shall maintain proper account, in the format convenient to it and financial year-wise, of all foreign exchange inflow by way of exports and other receipts, all foreign exchange outflow on account of imports, payment of dividend, royalty, fees, similar other accounts, consumption, utilisation of the said goods and sale of goods produced, manufactured, processed, packaged, services rendered including waste, scrap and remnants arising out of such production, manufacture, processing or packaging in the Domestic Tariff Area and shall submit regularly quarterly statement and monthly statement in case of gem and jewellery, to the Assistant Commissioner of Customs or Deputy Commissioner of Customs in the proforma prescribed in Annexure 16H of the Handbook of Procedures, Vol. I.

(4) The Assistant Commissioner of Customs or Deputy Commissioner of Customs may, subject to such conditions and limitations as may be imposed by him and subject to the provisions of the Export and Import Policy-

(i) Permit the said goods or goods manufactured, produced, processed, partially processed or packaged in the said unit to be taken to any other unit in another Special Economic Zone or to Export oriented Undertaking or Export Processing Zone or Electronic Hardware Technology Park or Software Technology Park units temporarily without payment of duty-

(a) for repairs, processing, testing or display and to be returned to the said unit thereafter, or

((b) for the purpose of manufacture and export therefrom, subject to maintenance of proper accounts by both the receiving and supplying units;

(ii) permit the said goods or goods partially processed or packaged in the said unit to be taken outside the Zone without payment of duty for the purpose of test, repairs, replacement, calibration, refining, processing, display, job-work or any other process necessary for manufacture of final product and to be returned to the unit thereafter or remove the same without payment of duty under bond for export from job-worker's premises:

Provided that in case of export from the job-worker's premises, such job-worker shall be Central Excise registrant under rule 174 of the Central Excise Rules, 1944;

Provided further that waste or scrap or remnants generated during such process at the job-worker's premises shall be either returned to the said unit in the Zone or shall be cleared on payment of duty as if the said waste or scrap or remnants have been imported by the said unit;

(iii) permit removal of moulds, jigs, tool, fixtures, tackles, instruments, hangers, patterns and drawings without payment of duty to the premises of the sub-contractors subject to the condition that such goods shall be brought back to the said unit on completion of the job-work within the stipulated period as specified by the Assistant Commissioner of Customs or Deputy Commissioner of Customs:

(iv) Permit, after approval of the Board of Approval, the said goods partially processed or manufactured, or packaged therefrom in the unit to be taken out of India for the purpose of processing if such processing is not available in India, without payment of duty and to be returned to the said unit thereafter

Provided that this condition shall not apply to the said unit if such unit is engaged in gem and jewellery.

(5) The Assistant Commissioner Customs or Deputy Commissioner of Customs may, subject to such conditions and limitations as may be imposed by him and subject to the provisions of Export and Import Policy, permit the said unit engaged in gem and jewellery in the Zone-

(i) to take out gold, silver or platinum for job-work in the Domestic Tariff Area and to bring back the jewellery finished or semi-finished, including studded jewellery containing quantity and purity equal to the gold, silver, platinum taken out within the period of thirty days from the date of such taking out:

Provided that no diamonds, precious stones or semi-precious stones shall be allowed to be taken out of the Zone;

(ii) to receive plain gold or plain silver or plain platinum jewellery from any place in India against exchange of gold or silver or platinum of the same purity and quantity in weight as that of the said gold or silver or platinum jewellery, as the case may be:

Provided that in case of activities mentioned at (i) and (ii) above in this condition, the Domestic Tariff Area unit supplying such jewellery against exchange of gold or silver or platinum or after jobwork shall not be entitled for deemed export benefits and the said unit in the Zone shall not be eligible for wastage or manufacturing loss against such jewellery;

(iii) to take out items of gem and jewellery temporarily into Domestic Tariff Area without payment of duty for the purpose of display and to be returned thereafter;

(iv) for personal carriage of gold jewellery or silver jewellery or platinum jewellery or precious stones or semi-precious stones or beads and articles as samples upto US$ 1,00,000/- for export promotion tours and temporary display or sale abroad subject to the condition that the exporter would bring back such jewellery, precious stones or semi-precious stones or beads and articles or the sale proceeds within a period of forty-five days from the date of departure through normal banking channel;

(v) to export jewellery including branded jewellery for display and sale in the permitted shops set up abroad, or in the showroom of its distributors or agents:

(va) to export jewellery for holding, or participating in, an exhibition abroad with the approval of the Development Commissioner, subject to condition that jewellery not sold shall be re-imported within 60 days of the closure of the exhibition;

Provided that items not sold abroad within a period of one hundred and eighty days from the date of their export shall be re-imported within a period of forty-five days from the date of expiry of such period;

(vi) to remove parts and tools of machines temporarily into Domestic Tariff Area without payment of duty for the purpose of repairs and return thereof after such repairs;

(vii) to remove moulds, tools, patterns and drawing to the premises of the sub-contractors for jobwork without payment of duty and to be returned to the unit thereafter within the period specified in this behalf by the Assistant Commissioner of Customs or Deputy Commissioner of Customs, as the case may be;

(viii) to send scrap, dust or sweepings of gold arising in the manufacturing process in its unit to the Government Mint or Private Mint for conversion into standard gold bars and to be returned to the said unit thereafter or to clear such scrap, dust or sweeping to the Domestic Tariff Area on payment of duty on the gold content in the said scrap, dust or sweepings.

(ix) to supply gem and jewellery manufactured in the said unit to the retail outlets or showrooms set up in the departure lounge at international airports at Calicut, Chennai, Cochin, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Thiruvananthapuram and Visakhapatnam in accordance with the Handbook of Procedures, Vol. I for sale to a tourist as defined in the Baggage Rules, 1998, leaving India in accordance with the procedure specified by the Commissioner of Customs;

(6) Subject to the satisfaction of the Assistant Commissioner of Customs or Deputy Commissioner of Customs, duty shall not be leviable in respect of -

(i) the said goods (including capital goods) or goods manufactured, processed or packaged in the said unit, if such goods are destroyed within the Zone or outside the Zone, when it is not possible or permissible to destroy the same within the Zone;

(ii) the scrap or waste material or remnants arising in the course of production, manufacture, processing or packaging, if such scrap or waste material or remnants are destroyed within the Zone or destroyed outside the Zone when it is not possible to destroy the same within the Zone:

Provided that this condition shall not apply in the case of gold, silver, platinum, diamond, precious stones and semi-precious stones.

2. Notwithstanding anything contained in paragraph 1, in a case where the said unit is engaged in the development of software, the exemption contained therein shall also apply to goods imported by such units for training and for development and testing of software for export and for providing consultancy services for development of software "on site" abroad:

Provided that the conditions stipulated in this notification are complied with by the unit engaged in the development of software;

Explanation. - The consultancy fees received by the said unit in convertible foreign currency for consultancy services for development of software `on site' abroad shall be deemed to be exports for the purpose of fulfilment of positive NFEP under this notification.

3. Notwithstanding anything contained in this notification, the said unit (other than a trading unit) shall be allowed to clear in accordance with the Export and Import Policy, the finished goods including by-products and services, manufactured or produced out of the said goods (including rejects, waste, scrap and remnants arising in the course of production, manufacture, processing or packaging of such articles and re-usable containers, cones, bobbins) into Domestic Tariff Area on payment of duty:

Provided that where such finished goods (including rejects, waste and scrap and remnants) are not excisable, customs duty equal in amount to that leviable on the inputs imported under this notification and used for the purpose of manufacture of such finished goods, which would have been paid but for the exemption under this notification shall be payable at the time of clearance of such finished goods:

Provided further that services shall be allowed to be rendered by the said unit in the Domestic Tariff Area subject to achievement of the said positive NFEP as stipulated in the Export and Import Policy.

Provided also that the finished goods (including by products, rejects, waste, scrap and remnants), may be cleared to the warehouse appointed or registered under the notification of the Government of India in the Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue, number 26/98-CE(NT), dated the 15th July, 1998 or to the warehouse authorized to carry on manufacturing process and other operations under section 65 of the Customs Act, 1962 (52 of 1962) and under the Manufacture and Other Operations in Warehouse Regulations, 1966, without payment of duty.

4. Notwithstanding anything contained in this notification, the said unit engaged in trading shall be allowed to clear the said goods in the Domestic Tariff Area without payment of duty, if such clearance is against Advance Licence or special duty free entitlement as per the provisions of the Export and Import Policy or to other Special Economic Zone or Export Oriented Undertaking or Export Processing Zone or Electronic Hardware Technology Park of Software Technology Park units.

5. Without prejudice to any other provision contained in this notification, the Assistant Commissioner of Customs or Deputy Commissioner of Customs may, subject to such conditions and limitations as he may deem fit to impose under the circumstances of the case for the proper safeguard of revenue interest and also subject to such permission of the Development Commissioner of the Zone, wherever it is specially required under the Export and Import Policy, allow the said unit in the Zone to clear any of the said goods for being taken outside the Zone, to any other place in India in accordance with the Export and Import Policy:

Provided that -

(a) such clearance of capital goods, may be allowed on payment of duty on the depreciated value thereof and at the rate in force on the date of payment of such duty,

Explanation. the depreciation shall be allowed for the period from the date of commencement of commercial production of the unit or where such goods have been received after such commencement, from the date such goods have come into use for commercial production to the date of payment of duty;

(b) such clearance of goods (including empty cones, bobbins, containers, suitable for repeated use) other than those specified in clause (a) may be allowed on payment of duty on the value at the time of import and at rates in force on the date of payment of such duty;

(c) such clearance of used packing materials, such as cardboard boxes, polyethylene bags of a kind unsuitable for repeated use, without payment of any duty.

6. Notwithstanding anything contained in paragraph 1, the exemption contained therein shall also apply to silver, gold and platinum falling under heading No. 71.06, 71.08 and 71.10 respectively, of the First Schedule to the said Customs Tariff Act imported by the nominated agencies for being supplied to the gem and jewellery units in the Zone under the scheme for export of gold jewellery and articles as specified in the Export and Import Policy, read with Chapter 8 of the Handbook of Procedures, Vol. I:


Provided that where silver or gold or platinum is imported on behalf of the said unit engaged in gem and jewellery, the exemption shall apply only if -

(a) the procedure as may be specified by the Assistant Commissioner of Customs or Deputy commissioner of Customs is followed by such jewellery unit; and

(b) the conditions stipulated in paragraph 1 are complied with by such jewellery unit.

Provided further that in the event of the unit engaged in gem and jewellery unit to whom the silver, gold and platinum has been supplied, fails to export the jewellery made out of such silver or gold or platinum within the time specified in the Export and Import Policy under the respective scheme, the nominated agencies shall deposit duty on the quantity of the silver, gold or platinum as the case may be, not contained in the jewellery exported at the rate of duty leviable on the silver or gold or platinum as provided in the notification of the Government of India in the Ministry of Finance No. 80/97-Customs, dated the 21st October, 1997 within seven days of the expiry of the period within which the said jewellery manufactured out of the said silver or gold or platinum was required to be exported.

Explanation. - For the purpose of this notification -

(a) "Export and Import Policy" means the Export and Import Policy, 1997-2002, published by the Government of India in the Ministry of Commerce vide notification No. 1(re-99)/1997-2002, dated 31st March, 2000, as amended from time to time;

(b) "Export Oriented Unit" means a Hundred Percent Export Oriented Unit as approved by the Board of Approvals appointed by the notification of the Government of India in the Ministry of Industry, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion or the Development Commissioner concerned;

(c) "Export Processing Zone" means the Export Processing Zone as notified by the notification of the Government of India in the Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue) under section 3 of the Central Excise Act, 1944 (1 of 1944);

(d) "Electronic Hardware Technology Park (EHTP) unit" means a unit established under and in accordance with the Electronic Hardware Technology Park (EHTP) Scheme notified by the Government of India in the Ministry of Commerce, vide notification No. 5(RE-95)/92-97, dated 30th April, 1995 and approved by the Inter-Ministerial Standing Committee appointed by notification of the Government of India in the Ministry of Industry (Department of Industrial Development), No. S.O. 117(E), dated the 22nd February, 1993;

(e) "Handbook of Procedures, Vol. I" means the Handbook of Procedures, Vol. I 1997-2002 published by the Government of India, Ministry of Commerce vide Public Notice No. (RE-2000)/1997-2002 dated the 31st March, 2000;

(f) "Nominated Agencies" means the Metals and Minerals Trading Corporation Limited (MMTC), the Handicraft and Handloom Export Corporation, the State Trading Corporation (STC), the Projects and Equipment of India Limited and any agency authorised by the Reserve Bank of India;

(g) "Special Economic Zone" means the Special Economic Zone as notified by the Government of India in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry;

(h) "Software Technology Parks (STP) Unit" means a unit established under and in accordance with Software Technology Parks (STP) Scheme notified by the Government of India in the Ministry of Commerce vide notification No. 4 (RE-95)/92-95, dated 30th April, 1995 and approved by the Inter-Ministerial Standing Committee appointment by the notification of the Government of India in the Ministry of Industry, Department of Industrial Development, No. S.O. 117(E), dated the 22nd February, 1993.