Importers are mandatorily required to establish the owner ship of their cargo by filing a “Bill of Entry” with Customs within 24 hours of the arrival of the vessel carrying their cargo at destination port, failing which, a fine of Rs.5,000 / per day for the first three days and Rs.10,000 / per day thereafter, will be levied.
For example, if for any reason, filing of Bill of Entry is delayed by a week, the fine amount will be Rs.55,000. This is just an example
To avoid this, Importers shall send the copies of shipping documents to their customs broker well in advance before the estimated date of arrival of the vessel for filing of bill of entry within the mandated period.
Alternatively, to save on time, the importer can also authorize their shippers / suppliers to email the scanned copies of the shipping documents, at least the copies of invoice, packing list and the bill of lading directly to the customs broker, immediately after the ship leaves the load port.