IGM and EGM: the manifests either side of the voyage

Every consignment crossing an Indian port is bracketed by two declarations made by somebody else. Section 30 of the Customs Act 1962 requires the person-in-charge of a vessel, aircraft or vehicle carrying imported goods or export goods to deliver an arrival manifest or import manifest, presented electronically prior to arrival in the case of a vessel or aircraft. Section 41 requires the person-in-charge of a conveyance carrying export goods or imported goods to deliver a departure manifest or export manifest, presented electronically, before departure of the conveyance from a customs station.

Who owes each manifest, and what does a failure cost them?

Both obligations sit on the person-in-charge of the conveyance, which in a container export is the shipping line or its agent, and never the exporter. Section 30 of the Customs Act 1962 provides that where the arrival manifest or import report is not delivered within the time specified and the proper officer is satisfied there was no sufficient cause for the delay, the person-in-charge or other person who caused the delay is liable to a penalty not exceeding fifty thousand rupees. Section 41 carries the same fifty thousand rupee ceiling for a failure to deliver the departure manifest or export report in time.

That is the whole exposure on the carrier's side, and it is worth knowing precisely because it is small relative to what a late manifest costs the cargo interest. The penalty is a ceiling, discretionary, and payable by a party whose commercial relationship with you has already ended when the vessel sailed. Nothing in the incentive structure makes your refund their problem, which is why chasing a manifest is a relationship exercise rather than a legal one.

What are the manifests made of now?

The Sea Cargo Manifest and Transhipment Regulations 2018, notified as Notification No. 38/2018-Customs (N.T.) dated 11-05-2018 under Section 157 read with Sections 30, 30A, 41, 41A and others of the Customs Act 1962, supersede the Import Manifest (Vessels) Regulations 1971 and the Export Manifest (Vessels) Regulations 1976, and were notified to come into force on 01-08-2018. They define an arrival manifest as an integrated declaration delivered by an authorised carrier before or on arrival, and a departure manifest as one delivered before departure.

Regulation 5 requires an authorised sea carrier carrying imported, export or coastal goods to deliver the departure manifest to the proper officer electronically before the departure of the vessel from the port, and sets out its components: a general declaration, a vessel's stores list, a list of private property of the master and crew, and a cargo declaration in the prescribed form for a foreign or a coastal voyage. Regulation 5(3) allows an authorised sea carrier to update the departure manifest within twenty-four hours after departure, extended to seventy-two hours for vessels carrying non-containerised cargo. The ICEGATE frequently asked questions on these regulations record that the registered stakeholders are the authorised sea carrier, the authorised sea agent, the authorised carrier, the terminal operator and the custodian. The exporter is not among them.

Why does the export manifest gate an IGST refund?

Because the refund application is the shipping bill, and the shipping bill is not treated as filed until the manifest is. Circular No. 26/2017-Customs dated 01-07-2017 describes the mechanism: the shipping bill carrying GST invoice details is deemed to be an application for refund of integrated tax paid on goods exported, and such application is deemed to have been filed only when the person in charge of the conveyance duly files an export manifest or export report covering the number and date of the shipping bills, and the applicant has furnished a valid return.

The Directorate General of Systems guide on IGST refunds in ICES puts the same rule operationally: under Rule 96 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Rules 2017 the shipping bill is deemed to be an application for refund once both the export general manifest and a valid return have been filed, and the guide records that the validation procedure is run only for those shipping bills where the manifest has been filed and the return data has been transmitted. An unfiled manifest is therefore not a delayed refund. It is a refund that has not started. The IGST refund error codes guide covers the response codes that follow once it has.

Why does an inland container depot shipment fail more often?

Because it needs two manifests to line up rather than one. The Directorate General of Systems guide on IGST refunds in ICES records that in the case of depots, where the gateway manifest is not filed electronically or is stuck in an error, the gateway response code appears, and that gateway manifests for many depot shipping bills have been filed manually, which the guide states shall not suffice because the manifest has to be filed in the customs system at the gateway port.

The same guide names the three steps that make a gateway filing succeed: filing the train or truck summary immediately after the cargo leaves the depot, ensuring the shipping line mentions the depot shipping bill in the manifest filed at the gateway port along with the transference copy received from the gateway port, and rectifying errors through amendment at the service centre with approval by the proper officer. None of those three is the exporter's to do, and all three are the exporter's to chase.

What does the export manifest freeze?

Your shipping bill. The Directorate General of Systems guide on IGST refunds in ICES states it twice in different contexts: there is no provision of amendment in the shipping bill once the export general manifest is filed, and a mistake in the shipping bill cannot be amended once the manifest is filed. That single sentence reorders the whole export timeline, because it means the window for fixing a declaration error closes at an event triggered by a third party, on a date the exporter does not choose.

The practical consequence is that every check on the shipping bill data has to run before the vessel sails, not after the refund fails. A wrong invoice number, a wrong GSTIN or a missing scheme declaration is cheap to correct while the goods are at the port and effectively permanent afterwards. Shipping bill fields and what each one feeds lists what each field decides, and the commercial invoice and packing list guide covers the fields most likely to be wrong when it is filed.

How is a manifest error corrected?

By the carrier, with the proper officer's leave. Section 30(3) of the Customs Act 1962 provides that where the proper officer is satisfied that the arrival manifest or import report is in any way incorrect or incomplete and there was no fraudulent intention, he may permit it to be amended or supplemented, and Section 41(3) makes the identical provision for the departure manifest or export report. Regulation 8 of the Sea Cargo Manifest and Transhipment Regulations 2018 carries the same power for an officer authorised by the Commissioner, and adds the power to condone a delay in delivery where there was sufficient cause, at the request of the authorised carrier.

Read the last four words. The request comes from the authorised carrier. There is no route by which a cargo interest amends a manifest, which is why the exporter's realistic options are to escalate to the line, to supply the transference copy and the depot shipping bill reference the gateway filing needs, and to keep asking. The Directorate General of Systems guide records that where gateway manifests are pending, the shipping lines may be approached at gateway ports to file supplementary manifests expeditiously.

So what can an exporter actually do?

Three things, none of which is filing. Capture the manifest as a status on the shipment rather than as an assumption, so an unfiled manifest surfaces within days of sailing instead of at the month end when the refund is reconciled. Give the line what a gateway filing needs at the moment the cargo leaves the depot, not when the refund fails. And run every shipping bill check before the sailing, because the manifest closes the amendment window behind it.

Purser Outbound keeps the sailing date, the manifest status and the refund state on the same shipment record, so the gap between a vessel that has sailed and a manifest that has not been filed is visible as a state rather than discovered as an absence. Purser never submits to a government portal, never files a manifest, and never sends an outbound message without a recorded human approval event. The line files the manifest, the customs broker files the shipping bill, and the escalation to either of them is yours to approve and yours to send.

Where to go from here

The manifest is the hinge between the physical shipment and the money that follows it, so the guides on either side of it are the ones that pay.

• The codes you see once the manifest is in. IGST refund error codes covers the response codes and what each one means.
• The other ledger the sailing feeds. Why an EDPMS shipping bill is still open covers the bank side of the same shipment.
• The declaration the manifest freezes. Shipping bill fields and what each one feeds names what has to be right before the vessel sails.
• What happened to the box before it sailed. Self sealing of export containers covers the seal trail into the gateway port.

Frequently asked questions

Who files the IGM and the EGM?

The carrier does. Section 30 of the Customs Act 1962 places the arrival manifest or import manifest on the person-in-charge of the vessel, aircraft or vehicle, and Section 41 places the departure manifest or export manifest on the person-in-charge of the conveyance carrying export goods, in each case presented electronically. The Sea Cargo Manifest and Transhipment Regulations 2018 place the sea obligations on the authorised sea carrier. The exporter and the importer are not filing parties.

Why is my IGST refund waiting on the export manifest?

Because the shipping bill is the refund application and it is not treated as filed until the manifest is. Circular No. 26/2017-Customs dated 01-07-2017 provides that the shipping bill is deemed to be an application for refund of integrated tax and is deemed to have been filed only when the person in charge files an export manifest or export report covering the number and date of the shipping bills and the applicant has furnished a valid return. Until then the validation does not run at all.

Can a shipping bill be amended after the EGM is filed?

The Directorate General of Systems guide on IGST refunds in ICES states that there is no provision of amendment in the shipping bill once the export general manifest is filed, and that a mistake in the shipping bill cannot be amended once the manifest is in. The practical effect is that the window for correcting a declaration closes at an event triggered by the shipping line, on a date the exporter does not choose, so the checks have to run before the vessel sails.

How is an incorrect manifest corrected?

Sections 30(3) and 41(3) of the Customs Act 1962 provide that where the proper officer is satisfied that the manifest or report is in any way incorrect or incomplete and there was no fraudulent intention, he may permit it to be amended or supplemented. Regulation 8 of the Sea Cargo Manifest and Transhipment Regulations 2018 carries the same power and adds condonation of delay, in each case at the request of the authorised carrier, so the correction is made by the carrier and not by the cargo interest.

Why do inland container depot exports fail at the gateway manifest?

Because the depot shipment needs the manifest filed electronically at the gateway port as well. The Directorate General of Systems guide on IGST refunds in ICES records that gateway manifests for many depot shipping bills were filed manually, which does not suffice, and names the steps that make a gateway filing succeed: filing the train or truck summary immediately after the cargo leaves the depot, having the shipping line mention the depot shipping bill in the gateway manifest along with the transference copy, and rectifying errors by amendment approved by the proper officer.