Goods Imported (Conditions of Transhipment) Regulations, 1995: 

The legal provisions relating to the transhipment of goods are discussed in section 54. However the procedures relating to the transhipment of goods are governed by Goods Imported (Conditions of Transhipment) Regulations, 1995. Broadly, the transhipment procedure is as follows:

1. Transhipment Permit: A ‘transhipment permit’ is the permission granted by the Customs, at the port/airport of unloading of imported goods, to shipping agents for carriage of goods to another port/airport/ICD/CFS in India. The shipping agent submits an application alongwith transhipment forms (5 copies), sub-manifest and a copy of IGM to the Customs. The Customs scrutinizes the details furnished by the shipping agents in the application for transhipment. In case, the documents are in order, permission for transhipment is granted by the Customs.

2. Execution of Bond and Bank Guarantee: To ensure that imported cargo, on which duty has not been paid, are not pilfered en-route to another port/airport/ICD/CFS and reach there safely, a bond with bank guarantee (@ 25% of bond value) is executed by the carrier engaged for the transhipment of the goods. The carriers in public sector i.e. CONCOR and CWC are exempted from the requirement of bank guarantee for transhipment of goods. The terms of the bond is that if the carrier produces a certificate from Customs of the destination port/airport/ICD/CFS for safe arrival of goods there, the bond stands discharged. In case such certificate is not produced within 30 days or wi thin such extended period as the proper officer of Customs may allow, an amount equal to the value, or as the case may be, the market price of the imported goods is forfeited.

3. Sealing of goods: After issuance of transhipment permit and execution of bonds as mentioned above, containers are sealed with ‘one time bottle seal’ by the Customs. In case, containers are already sealed with ‘one time bottle seal’ by the shipping agents, containers are not required to be sealed again by the Customs. In such cases, shipping agents are required to inform the serial number of seals to Customs, which is just verified by the Customs.