BOI exporters and Customs House Agents (CHAs) are required to comply with the following guidelines when clearing imported raw materials (with effect from 20th April 2020). The guidelines are meant to ensure a paperless process in the clearing of raw materials.
1. Submission of the electronic Bills of Lading:
The Ship’s Agents and Freight Forwarders are required to submit the electronic Bills of Lading to the Automated System for Customs Data (“ASYCUDA”)
2. Submission of the electronic Customs Declarations
CHAs will submit electronic Customs Declarations (“e-CusDec”) to the ASYCUDA System together with scanned copies of the relevant Commercial Invoice/Bill of Lading or Air Way bill/ Delivery Order or Freight Arrival Notice and other necessary documents.
3. Processing of the e-CusDecs’ at the Colombo BOI Office
Once the e-CusDec is submitted to the ASYCUDA System (and the payment successfully made), the CHA/BOI Exporters are required to send an email to the BOI including details such as CusDec number, office code etc.. pursuant to which the BOI will issue the Release Order.
4. Electronic Release Messages to the Port Terminals
The Information Communication Technology (ICT) Division of the BOI is required to ensure that e-Release Messages are transmitted to the relevant Port Terminal from the ASYCUDA System for all e-CusDecs’ released by Customs.
The Port Terminal Operators are authorised to release containers to BOI Exporters or CHAs once they receive e-Release Messages from the ASYCUDA System.
The previous practice of having Customs Officers rubber stamping hard copies of Delivery Orders is no longer required.
5. Electronic Release Messages to the Port Terminals
Gate Passes (for containers) generated by the ASYCUDA System can be utilized by CHAs. Gate Passes will be generated automatically once Release Orders are issued. The relevant BOI Officer will retrieve the Gate Pass and insert the delivery destination.
