Taxpoint: CBIC has released a guidebook for Faceless Assessment

CBIC has released a guidebook for Faceless Assessment

CBIC has released a guidebook for Faceless Assessment to assist the concerned stakeholders in the successful implementation of Faceless Assessment across the country.

Faceless Assessment, a component of the Turant Customs programme, is a path breaking initiative aimed at introducing anonymity and uniformity in Customs assessments pan India.

Overview: The journey towards Faceless Assessment has been long. Decades ago, goods imported into India were assessed for Customs duty at the border by jurisdictional Customs officers on the basis of physical documents. Subsequent introduction of computers led to automation of assessment. This was followed by a robust digital risk management system (RMS) for Customs clearance with minimal checks, while interdicting risk-prone cargo for assessment and examination.

In 2012, the Customs Act 1962, was amended to introduce self-assessment by importers/ exporters themselves. While digitisation helped in streamlining of procedures, yet disparities in assessment prevailed due to interpretation issues. Customs officials recognised a dire need to provide uniformity and certainty in assessment practices.

It was also clear that anonymity in assessment and load balancing of import documents that are required to be assessed would bring about more efficiency and help improve the speed of Customs clearances across India. This was the trigger for the conceptualization and development of Faceless Assessment.

Faceless Assessment a Balance between Anonymization and Specialization: Anonymity in assessment is a core feature of the Faceless Assessment initiative. This is aimed to reduce the unnecessary need of a face to face interaction with a Customs official.

This measure will also encourage specialization and uniformity in assessment of identified goods, as officers in a Faceless Assessment Group (FAG) would no longer be required to work on assessment of all goods.