seychelles revenue commission customs division · all cargo vessels and aircraft in ballast shall...

SEYCHELLES REVENUE COMMISSION

CUSTOMS DIVISION

CARGO MANIFEST PROCEDURES

ASYCUDAWorld

April 2013

CARGO MANIFEST – STANDARD OPERATION PROCEDURES

Seychelles Revenue Commission Customs Division Page | 2

TABLE OF CONTENTS

OBJECTIVE 3

SCOPE 3

RESPONSIBILITY 3

LEGAL BASIS 3

CARGO REPORTING 3

INTRODUCTION 3 AMENDMENTS TO MANIFESTS 4 ARRIVAL OF DAMAGED GOODS 4 CONSOLIDATED CARGO 5 CARGO FOR INTERNATIONAL COURIERS 5

CARGO MANIFEST PROCEDURE 5

STORING THE MANIFEST (BEFORE ARRIVAL) 5 REGISTERING THE MANIFEST (AFTER ARRIVAL) 6 ARRIVAL OF GOODS, TALLY AND LOCATION 6 SEAPORT (SCPO) 6 AIRPORT (SCAC) 7 DE-GROUPAGE OF CONSOLIDATED CARGO 7 BEFORE REGISTRATION OF MANIFEST 7 AFTER REGISTRATION OF MANIFEST 8 SPLITTING WAYBILLS 8 GOODS READY FOR CLEARANCE 8

ANNEX 1: MANIFEST DATA FIELDS – GENERAL SEGMENT 9

ANNEX 2: MANIFEST DATA FIELDS – WAYBILL SEGMENT (BOL) 10

ANNEX 3: SUMMARY OF MANIFEST PROCEDURES 12

ANNEX 4: MANIFEST PROCEDURES – FLOW CHARTS 14



OBJECTIVE

To establish all required operations involved in receiving, delivering, processing and registering a cargo manifest at ports of entry/departure in Seychelles.

SCOPE

The present procedure will be implemented at all ports of entry or departure where goods may arrive or leave the Seychelles.

RESPONSIBILITY

The accomplishment of this procedure is the responsibility of the carriers or the carrier agents acting on their behalf, and the Customs Officers involved in activities related to the arrival or departure of all means of transportation carrying or not carrying any goods, and where applicable, any agency responsible for the custody of the goods in the transit sheds.

LEGAL BASIS

Customs Management Act, (2011) and subsequent Regulations

CARGO REPORTING

Introduction

All vessel and aircraft arriving from a destination outside of Seychelles must deliver, to Customs, a Cargo Manifest detailing all of the goods being carried. There is no exception to this rule. Even vessel arriving ballast (i.e. not carrying cargo) will also state this fact on the Cargo Manifest.

Furthermore, all cargo brought into the Seychelles shall be covered by a summary declaration which should be submitted electronically to Customs prior to its arrival in Seychelles. The summary should contain, but not limited to, the place of loading/unloading, type of packages, number of packages, shipping marks and container number. This information is crucial for Customs and the other Government regulatory agencies tasks with making risk assessment decisions. The ability to expedite the risk assessment process will impact on the time it takes Customs to clear and release legitimate cargo.

The Summary Declaration is an electronic safety and security declaration from the Carrier to the Customs Authorities. It must be lodged in advance of the arrival of the aircraft/vessel.

Cargo cannot be released without a cargo manifest having been registered with Customs except in circumstances prescribed in regulations.

The Assistant Commissioner of Customs has the authority to specify the time that the shipping company (shipping line or airline), hereinafter referred also asCarrier, is required to inform the Assistant Commissioner of Customs of their arrival in the Seychelles.

Customs requires that the Carrier must deliver within 24 hours of docking or within 3 hours of landing and before any goods are unloaded, an inward report in the prescribed form.

A Return Inward, also known as the manifest, is a declaration by the Carrier carrying the goods. The purpose of filing a manifest is to ensure:

i. That all imports or exports are accounted for;

ii. That all documents relating to the ship or aircraft have been submitted and are complete; and,

iii. That the Commander or agent has satisfied all legal requirements.



The responsibility of submitting a report rests with the Carrier. It is possible to appoint an agent to transact business with the Customs. The agent and the Carrier are equally liable to fulfill all obligations.

All manifests must be submitted through the Customs computer system and must conform to the approved formats.

All hazardous materials, arms and ammunition, explosives, alcoholic beverages, and restricted items must be specifically identified.

For the purposes of this Procedure a Consolidator is an Agent or Company that arranges the movement of freight (Grouped shipments, orders, and/or goods) on behalf of exporters and importers”

All manifests for vessels and aircraft must be registered on the Customs computer system upon arrival to the Seychelles.

Cargo on the manifest must be indicated as:

i. The content of every container and of all cargo in bulk intended for discharge at the port of arrival, including containers and cargo for trans-shipment, which must be reported according to the description on the relative bill of lading or airway bill;

ii. Restricted goods must be reported with as much detail of the goods as possible;

iii. All cargo on vessels or aircrafts, whether consigned for this port/airport or not, must be reported in accordance with the description contained on the relative Bill of Lading or Air Waybill;

iv. In-transit cargo on aircrafts and on vessels can be reported as “General cargo remaining on board for exportation”, however the Customs may require that the restricted goods, spirits, wines, tobacco, cigars or cigarettes be specifically reported;

v. All cargo vessels and aircraft in ballast shall submit a nil cargo report through the system.

Amendments to Manifests

Amendments to the manifest may be requested to Customs by the Carrier within 24 hours of the manifest’s registration and after all cargo has been off-loaded.

In addition to the aforementioned, where goods are reported short, the Carrier or the agent must satisfy the Customs that:

i. The goods were not loaded;

ii. They have been discharged and landed at some previous port or airport;

iii. They have been over-carried and landed at a subsequent port or customs airport; or,

iv. The goods have been over-carried; they have been returned and landed in Seychelles on the return voyage or by some other ship or aircraft, which shall have landed them at the port or customs airport to which they have been over-carried.

Arrival of damaged goods

Where goods land in a damaged state, the Carrier or Agent submits to Customs, a “damage report form”, which contains all the particulars of all the damaged cargo. The damage report form is to be signed by:

i. The custodians of the cargo, and



ii. The customs representatives who were present when the damaged goods were surveyed.

All cargo landed, for which a Customs entry has not been submitted, must be temporarily stored in a Customs approved designated area (Transit Shed) to pending submission of an entry and clearance.

Consolidated Cargo

All Consolidators must prepare and submit all bills of lading or air waybills for any consolidated cargo consigned to them before or after registration of the manifest.

The Consolidator must be clearly identified on all Master Bills of Lading or Master Air Waybills. The cargo reporter or the agent must have the consignee code filled on each transport document with the corresponding code assigned by Customs to identify the Consolidator.

The vessel/aircraft agent may wish to notify the Consolidator by forwarding the Master Bill of Lading/Airway Bill to the consolidator through the ASYCUDA World platform (e-mail).

The consolidator may use the ASYCUDA World to key in the data for each transport document or could use compatible interface software to upload de-groupaged XML files directly to ASYCUDA World.

All house B/Ls /AWBs (delivery notices) created from master BL/AWB may be viewed only by the owner (creator) of said BLs/AWBs.

The responsibility and liability for the validation of de-groupage information shall remain with carrier even if it was the Consolidator who keyed in the House Air Waybill or Bill of Lading.

The Manifest Seat, in each Customs Office, will assist stakeholders in de-grouping BLs/AWBs for special and well-documented cases (e.g. cargo belonging to different owners and not manifested as consolidated cargo). The responsibility and liability for the validation of de-groupage shall remain with the original owner of the BL/AWB requesting the de-groupage.

Cargo for InternationalCouriers

The Carrier or Carrier Agent must identify Air Waybills consigned to International Couriers.

All Air Waybills consigned to International Couriers should be identified as Master Air Waybills.

International Courier Agent may de-group the Master Air Waybills after Registration of Manifest, following manifest procedures. The Manifest Seat at the Airport will be able to assist Courier Agents with special and well-documented cases.

CARGO MANIFEST PROCEDURE

Storing the Manifest (before arrival)

Carrier (e-signature not required)

In general, Carriers will transmit XML files to ASYCUDAWorld (before the arrival of vessels or aircrafts). Manifests on XML files will be automatically integrated and stored.

When XML files are not available, prior to the arrival of the vessel or aircraft:

a. The Carrier or the authorised Carrier’s Agent accesses the Customs server using the appropriate login credentials to input the required information for the cargo manifest;

b. The Carrier or Carrier’s Agent completes general segment of the manifest before proceeding to enter the corresponding bills of lading or air waybills, into ASYCUDAWorld; and



c. Once all the required data or information is entered, the document must be verified and stored.

When a ship or aircraft travels into or out of Seychelles on the same day, the Carrier or Carrier’s Agent must make sure to supply a unique voyage number for each journey.

The stored cargo manifest has no legal value nor subsequent implications if data is not complete or correct. The STORED status of a manifest does not imply ACCEPTANCE of such information by Customs.

The Carrier or Carrier’s authorised Agent, with authorised access to the ASYCUDA System can modify the cargo manifest before the arrival of the vessel/aircraft.

De-groupage of Master Bill of Lading can be done before arrival of vessels/aircrafts. Carrier’s authorised Agent or Consolidators store House Air Waybills corresponding to each Master Air Waybill, making clear reference to the Master document. Only Carrier’s authorised Agent can validate the de-groupage. Before validation is accepted, checks are carried out in the system.

Registering the Manifest (after arrival)

Carrier (e-signature required)

Within 24 hours of the arrival of the vessel or one hour before the arrival of the aircraft, the Carrier or the Carrier’s authorised Agent accesses the Customs system to retrieve the STORED manifest for registration.

The Carrier or Carrier’s Agent requests the system to REGISTER the completed cargo manifest with all its related Bills of Lading or Air Waybills, into the Customs server. Accordingly, the system will display a registration number for the cargo manifest as proof of registration and positive allocation of data into the system.

The Carrier or Carrier’s Agent prints out the Manifest’s General Segment page and attaches it to the hard copy of the cargo Manifest to be submitted to Customs.

The registered cargo manifest will now have legal value and the Carrier or Carrier’s Agent must ensure that all data is complete and correct. The REGISTERED status of a cargo manifest implies ACCEPTANCE of such information by Customs.

Carriers or Carrier’s Agents cannot modify cargo manifest after arrival of vessel or aircraft.

Arrival of goods, Tally and Location

Customs (e-signature not required)

Seaport (SCPO)

Following the arrival of the vessel, the Carrier or Carrier’s Agent submits the hard copy of the registered Cargo Manifest (with the printed Manifest General Segment) to the Customs’ Boarding Officer. Carrier will beauthorised to off-load the cargo.

Customs and the Carrier or Carrier’s Agent supervise the off-loading of the cargo from the vessel and its transfer to the designated Transit Shed.

Once in the Transit Shed, Land Marine and Customs tally the off loaded cargo. A copy of the Land Marine’s Tally Sheet will be given to the Customs officer witnessing the tally. If no discrepancies are found(short landing or excess), Customs officer will update the location of BLs in ASYCUDAWorld, using the appropriate option.

Customs officer will update Shortage/Excessin ASYCUDAWorld. BLs with shortage/excess annotation will not be located in the system, until the Carrier or Carrier’s Agent request the proper amendment.



Any request for amendments for short landed cargo or cargo in excess must be supported by evidence (documented). Carriers or Carrier Agents will submit their request to the Manifest Seat (within 24 hours after the tally of goods) for proper action to update the system.

BLs with shortage/excess annotations will automatically be blocked; therefore clearance of goods will not be possible until differences are documented. The responsibility and liability for the process (request for amendment) shall remain with Carrier or the Carrier’s Agent.

Airport (SCAC)

Following the arrival of the aircraft, the Carrier or Carrier’s Agent submits the hard copy of the registered Cargo Manifest (with the printed Manifest General Segment) to the Customs’ Boarding Officer. Carrier will beauthorised to off-load the cargo.

Customs and the Carrier or Carrier’s Agent supervise the off-loading of the cargo from the aircraft and its transfer to the designated Transit Shed. Cargo for international Couriers will be transferred to the Airport Passenger’s Terminal. The rest of cargo will be transferred to the Airport Cargo Terminal.

Once in the Transit Shed, Customs tally the off loaded cargo. If no discrepancies are found (short landing or excess), Customs officers will update the location of BLs in ASYCUDAWorld, using the appropriate option.

Customs officer will update Shortage/Excess in ASYCUDAWorld. AWBs with shortage/excess annotation will not be located in the system, until the Carrier or Carrier’s Agent request the proper amendment.AWBs with shortage/excess annotations will automatically be blocked; therefore clearance of goods will not be possible until differences are documented. The responsibility and liability for the process (request for amendment) shall remain with Carrier or the Carrier’s Agent.

Any request for amendments for short landed cargo or cargo in excess must be supported by evidence (documented). Carriers or Carrier Agents will submit their request to the Manifest Seat (within 24 hours after the tally of goods) for proper action to update the system.

De-groupage of consolidated cargo

Freight Forwarder / Carrier or Carrier’s Agent (e-signature required) Customs (e-signature not required)

Before registration of Manifest

Consolidators/Freight Forwarders can de-group only MBLs/MAWBs (Master waybills), as long as they are declared as Master waybills (by the Carrier or Carrier’s Agent):

a. Use the MBL/MAWB reference number; b. Have the house BLs/AWBs ready; c. Login to ASYCUDAWorld and select “New BOL”;

1. On box “Waybill Reference Number”, enter the house BL/AWB number (see b. above);

2. On box “Previous Document”, enter the MBL/MAWB number (see a. above);

3. Fill all relevant information; 4. Note that ASYCUDAWorld runs internal validation processes to

ensure the total weight is identical to the Master Waybill. d. Check and Store/Update information.



The Carrier or Carrier’s Agent must validate de-groupage, however Manifest Seat can also assist in the validation procedure.

After registration of Manifest

Consolidators/Freight Forwarders can de-group only MBLs/MAWBs (Master waybills) as long as they are declared as Master waybills (by the Carrier or Carrier’s Agent):

a. Use the MBL/MAWB reference number; b. Have the house BLs/AWBs ready; c. Login to ASYCUDAWorld and select “New BOL”;

1. On box “Waybill Reference Number”, enter the house BL/AWB number (see b. above);

2. On box “Previous Document”, enter the MBL/MAWB number (see a. above);

3. Fill all relevant information; 4. Note that ASYCUDAWorld runs internal validation processes to

ensure the total weight is identical to the Master Waybill. d. Check and Store/Update information.

The Manifest Seat will do validation of de-groupage.

In addition, the Manifest Seat, in each Customs Office, may assist stakeholders in de-grouping BLs/AWBs for special and well-documented cases (e.g. cargo belonging to different owners and not manifested as consolidated cargo).

Splitting Waybills

Customs Broker / Carrier or Carrier’s Agent (e-signature required) Customs (e-signature not required)

For goods declaring purposes, there may be necessity to split a house Waybill into lines to match the item lines on BOE. The total weight after the splitting should correspond to the weight shown on the Waybill.

After completion of the split the action must be validated.

Goods ready for clearance

Carrier or Carrier’s Agent

After completing all necessary steps, goods will be considered “ready for clearance”. It is recommended that Carrier or Carrier’s Agent:

a. Communicate the status to their customers, using the updated information about the status of goods; and

b. Assist their customers in Manifest-related issues.



ANNEX 1: MANIFEST DATA FIELDS – GENERAL SEGMENT

The following is the structure of the Cargo Manifest, with fields in the General segment:

Data Fields Description

Office of departure/arrival

Code of the Customs office of departure or arrival

General data

Voyage number Flight number, Voyage number, allowing for unique identification of the current journey of the mean of transport

Date of departure Date when the means of transport leaves the place of departure

Date of arrival Date when the means of transport arrives at the place of destination

Time of arrival Time when the means of transport arrives at the place of destination

Date of last discharge Date when all the goods of the manifest have been unloaded from the mean of transport

Manifest number and date of registration

These fields will be automatically completed by the system upon registration of the manifest

Place of loading Place (LOCODE) where the goods were loaded on the means of transport

Place of destination Place (LOCODE) where the goods will be unloaded from the means of transport

Transport Data

Carrier Code, name and address of the party undertaking the transport of the goods

Shipping Agent Code of the Shipping Agent in charge of the ship management during the stay in port

Transport

Mode Code identifying the mode of transport

Nationality Country code where the mean of transport is registered

Identity Ship name, vehicle registration number, plane registration number

Place Location in port where the vessel is berthed or moored

Registration Additional information concerning the identification of the mean of transport (e.g. Lloyds number for ships)

Captain/driver Information on the captain, the driver …

Totals Summary of the quantitative data regarding the cargo – Total number of waybills, of packages, of containers , total gross weight contained in the manifest

Tonnage

Gross and net tonnage

Tonnage of the ship - Information data not requested for Customs management of the manifest purpose

Office of destination

Office of destination Code of the Customs office of destination in case of transit



ANNEX 2: MANIFEST DATA FIELDS – WAYBILL SEGMENT (BOL)

The following is the structure of the Cargo Manifest, with fields in the Waybillsegment:

Fields Description

Office of departure/arrival

Code of the Customs office of departure or arrival

General Data

Voyage number Flight number, Voyage number, allowing for the unique identification of the current journey of the mean of transport

Date of departure Date when the means of transport leaves the place of departure

Date of arrival Date when the means of transport arrives at the place of destination

Time of arrival Time when the means of transport arrives at the place of destination

Date of last discharge Date when all the goods of the manifest have been unloaded from the mean of transport

Manifest number and date of registration

These fields will be automatically completed by the system upon registration of the manifest

Place of loading Place (LOCODE) where the goods were loaded on the means of transport

Place of destination Place (LOCODE) where the goods will be unloaded from the means of transport

Waybill reference number

This is the « Identifier» of the transport document This is the reference assigned by the carrier or his agent (e.g. Airway bill #, it is unique in the manifest)

Type of Transport document

Alphanumeric code for the type of transport document (e.g. « AWB » for Air waybill) An indicator linked to the type defines if the document is a master or house document waybill (only documents defined as master can be deconsolidated).

Previous document Reference of the previous document (The master waybill in case of deconsolidation)

Nature Code nature of the document: export, import, transit, transhipment.

UCR Unique carrier reference (Not used at present)

Place of loading / of destination

Place (LOCODE) where the goods were loaded on the means of transport or were they will be unloaded. The values of the general segment will be displayed by default

Carrier Carrier Code, name and address of the party undertaking the transport of

the goods The values of the general segment will be displayed by default

Exporter Code, name, address and country of the exporter Transport

Mode Code of the mode of transport The value of the general segment will be displayed by default

Nationality Country code where the mean of transport is registered The values of the general segment will be displayed by default

Identity Name of the ship, vehicle registration number plane registration number ... identifying the mean of transport The values of the general segment will be displayed by default

Notify If the code is not mandatory or the notify has no code, please move to the next field and capture name and address of the notify

Consignee If the code is not mandatory or the importer has no code, please move to the next field and capture name and address of the consignee

Identification of goods Total containers Total number of containers for this transport document

This field is activated if the total number of containers on the general segment indicates a number greater than 0.

Kind of packages Code and description of the kind of packages (cartons, boxes...) Status Status code of the waybill (Master, Sub-bill…).

This field is automatically completed by the system when capturing the field “ Type of transport document”)



Fields Description

Number of deconsolidated sub-bills

Number of deconsolidated sub-bills resulting from the deconsolidation of a master document. This field is directly managed by the system.

Marks and numbers Shipping marks Manifested packages Number of packages as indicated on the waybill.

This field must be accurately captured as the data are compared to the «Totals» information of the general segment.

Remaining packages The « remaining packages» field is handled by the system according to the writing off operations and is not available for data entry except through the “excess and shortages” option. .Remark : at initial data capture of the waybill, the number of «remaining packages » is identical to the number of «manifested packages»

Manifested gross weight

Gross weight as indicated on the waybill. This field must be accurately captured as the data are compared to the «Totals» information of the general segment

Remaining gross weight

The field « remaining packages» field is handled by the system according to the writing off operations and is not available for data entry except through the “excess and shortages” option. Remark : at initial data capture of the waybill, the «remaining gross weight » is identical to the «manifested gross weight»

Volume (MC) Volume of the goods in cubic metres Description of goods Commercial description of the goods from the waybill data (e.g.

clothes, machines…) Location of goods Code of the place where the goods are located

Most often the location of good sis not known when the manifest is being prepared, in this case the field could be left blank (if declared as optional in configuration)

Values declared and seals identification P/C Indicator Value « P » is the freight has been prepaid

Value « C » is the freight is to be collected Amount of freight and currency code

Amount of freight and currency code (if known)

Value declared for Customs

Value declared for Customs if known

Value declared for transport

Value declared for transport, if known

Value declared for insurance

Value declared for insurance, if known

Number of seals Number of seals affixed

Marks of seals Marks or references number of seals Responsible Code of the body having affixed the seals (Customs, terminal

operator

Information Additional Information as required

Onward transport

Transit These fields are automatically handled by the system if the waybill has been written off by a transit operation. First field contains the code of the Customs office of destination, the second is the office name and the third the reference of the transit document

Transhipment These fields are automatically handled by the system if the waybill has been written off by a transhipment operation. First field contains the code of the place of destination (LOCODE), the second is the name of the place and the third the reference of the document authorizing the operation.

Onward carrier These fields contain the code and the name of the carrier in charge of the onward transport for transit of after transhipment.



ANNEX 3: SUMMARY OF MANIFEST PROCEDURES

Store Manifest

Register Manifest

Tally and Location



De-grouping consolidation

Splitting waybills

Arrival Notice



ANNEX 4: MANIFEST PROCEDURES – FLOW CHARTS

seychelles revenue commission customs division · all cargo vessels and aircraft in ballast shall...

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