CBIC has vide Notification No. 62/2021 dated 23.07.2021 made certain amendments to the Customs Brokers Licensing Regulations, 2018. The prime focus of these amendments has been the surrender and validity of the License of Custom Brokers. The resultant changes have been discussed below.
Regulation 8A For license surrender [Newly Inserted]
A licensee (custom broker) may surrender the license granted to him, by a written request to the principal commissioner or commissioner of customs who had earlier issued the license. On receipt of the request, the aforementioned officer may revoke it if no proceedings are pending and all dues payable to CG under this Act, and rules and regulations thereof have been paid.
Modified Regulation 9 Period of validity of a license
The license will be valid until it is revoked. Previously, it used to be valid for 10 years.
License is deemed invalid if the licensee is inactive for one year i.e. No business of customs is conducted for one year (excluding the period for which license is suspended). However, by making an application in Form-I, where the license has become invalid, and payment of fees of 15000, the principal commission or commissioner of customs may renew the license within one month from the date of receipt of the application, and the same will be effective from the expiration date.
Summary of changes post amendment in case of Custom Broker along with the rationale behind each:
- Provide lifetime validity of the licenses
To reduce compliance burden. Else, previously license had to be renewed after an interval.
- Voluntary surrender of license
To cater to situations where business is wound up.
- Invalidity of the license in case licensee remains inactive for a period exceeding 1yr
To prevent misuse of license.
- Empowerment of Principal Commissioner/ Commissioner of Customs to renew a license which gets invalid on account of inactivity
Sometimes there may be no business activity due to genuine reasons, say a pandemic. In such a case, the renewal will be justified.
The above changes are subject to review in January 2022.
