of goods at the port. . Appointment of Clearing Agents There are lot of formalities involved in clearing the goods imported from the port. Normally importer does not feel comfortable with completing the formalities by himself.
In this case he may delegate the task of clearing the imported goods from the port of discharge to clearing agent who is well-versed in this job. The latter performs the job for a fee. The importer sends all the documents to the clearing agent to enable him to take delivery of goods after fulfilling the customs formalities prescribed in this regard. .
Fulfillment of Customs Formalities Clearing agent engaged by the importer performs the following activities in connection with taking delivery of goods from the port. i) Getting Endorsement for Delivery The clearing agent gets bill of lading endorsed by importer in his favour to enable him to take delivery of goods and approaches the shipping company. Where the freight is not paid, the clearing agent pays it. The shipping company may give a separate delivery order after collecting the freight charges or it may simply endorse on the bill of lading by the importer or by his agent itself as a proof payment of freight charges.
ii) Payment of Dock Dues The clearing agent submits two copies of filled in Application form to “Landing and Shipping Dues Office. This office levies charges on all the imported goods. The clearing agent has to pay Dock charges by Dock challan. After paying dock charges ‘Landing and Shipping Due Office stamps on the application form itself with wordings like Dock charges paid’ or it may issue a separate receipt called Post Trust Dues Receipt.
iii) Preparation of Bill of Entry Bill of Entry is prepared in triplicate in order to pay custom duty. This document contains the details like name and address of importer, the name of the ship, full description of the goods, number of packages, importer and exporter code (IEC) name of the exporting country and custom duty payable. Bill of Entry is issued in three colours. The black form is meant for