The origin of the Postal Appraising Department (PAD) dates back to 01.02.1969, when it was started in a small way within the office of the General Post Office to cater the needs of the people of Karnataka who hither to had to depend on Chennai and Mumbai Postal hubs for the clearance of their foreign mail/parcels.
The facility for import and export of goods by Post Parcels is provided by the Postal Department at its Foreign Post Offices and sub-Foreign Post Offices. Customs facilities for examination, assessment, clearance etc. are available at these Post Offices. Facility for export clearances is also available at Export Extension Counters opened by the Postal Department where parcels for export are accepted and cleared by the Customs.
International Articles with Tracking Numbers prefixed with ‘C’, ‘R’, ‘L’, ‘E’ & ‘U’ are dealt by Office of the Post Master General (PMG) and Customs clearance dealt by Postal Appraising Department, Customs, Bengaluru City Customs, Bengaluru.
Goods imported or exported by post are governed by Sections 82, 83 and 84 of the Customs Act, 1962 whereas the procedure for clearance of goods through post is prescribed in Rules regarding Postal Parcels and Letter Packets from Foreign Ports In/ Out of India of 1953.
Goods imported through post are classified under Chapter Heading 9804 of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 and rate of duty applicable thereon is charged on all the goods imported by post.
The role of the Customs Postal Appraising Department Bengaluru is to clear consignments that are received through the Postal Channel and are presented by the Bengaluru Foreign Post Office (FPO) for Customs clearance. Deputy/Assistant Commissioner of Customs is the in-charge of the Postal Appraising Department.
The Postal Appraisal Department of Bengaluru City Customs has recently introduced FPO Import Application, an independent system as a Customs digital solution for Postal Imports, developed by DG Systems and Data management, Bengaluru Zonal Unit in association with NIC under the ICES project. This application is expected to be a game changer in the Customs processes for Postal Imports, as the multiple electronic data exchange between Department of Post and CBIC is going to happen on real time basis and the Customs declaration for the inbound articles are going to be received in advance as Electronic Advance Data (EAD) and electronic interface for the public is also envisaged in this application.