Customs house agent is a very important person whenever you are importing or exporting any goods. By definition he is a person who has acquired a license to acts as an agent for transaction of any business related to departure or entry of transportations or the export or import of goods at any customs station. Generally the businesses that imports or exports goods don’t have knowledge about the rules and regulations of the government and neither do they have any time to look into these matters. Hence, they appoint a agent to act on their behalf. However, all the duties performed by the customs house agent are administered by a government body known as “Customs House Agents Licensing Regulations.”
Nowadays, almost all the metros have customs house agents. There is Ahmedabad customs house agents, Mumbai customs house agent, Delhi customs house agents, and many more. However, to become an agent the applicant must possess some qualifications. Below are few requisites to become an agent.
1. Applicant must be graduate from recognized university
2. Applicant must hold Form G pass
3. Should have three years work experience in customs clearing
4. Should have property of Rs. 1 lac or Rs 50,000 cash verified by a scheduled bank
5. Faithfulness of the applicant and their financial status are also considered
Apart from this, if there are too many applications for the licenses, then the commissioner selects the applicants by seniority. Once deemed as a licensed agent they have to perform certain duties and obligations specified by the licensing regulation. Some of the duties and responsibilities of an agent are:
• An agent can only clear the imported or exported goods against the approval from the principal and is also required to produce the authorization letter when asked by commissioner.
• An agent has to personally clear the goods and all the documents prepared by him to clear the goods must bear his name on top of the document.
• An agent is obligated to advice the client to follow all the provisions of the government act and other regulations.
• The agent is supposed to promptly pay the government all the duties and taxes money that he has received from the client.
• The agents should maintain all the financial transactions up-to-date. Furthermore, he must also maintain all the documents like bill of entry, shipping bills, etc. for at least five years.
Ahmedabad customs house agents and other agents nowadays use computer software for creating and filing various bills online. This made their work much easier and faster. However, the software is free but it requires registration of the agent’s website to ICEGATE.