MANU/CUCR/0008/2023

Ministry : Ministry of Finance

Department/Board : Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs

Circular No. : 08/2023-Customs

Date : 13.03.2023

Notification/Circulars Referred : Notification No. 57/2017-Customs dated 30.06.2017 MANU/CUST/0052/2017;Notification No. 02/2019-Customs dated 29.01.2019 MANU/CUST/0002/2019

Citing Reference:
Notification No. 57/2017-Customs dated 30.06.2017 MANU/CUST/0052/2017  Referred

Notification No. 02/2019-Customs dated 29.01.2019 MANU/CUST/0002/2019  Referred

To,

All Principal Chief Commissioners/Chief Commissioners of Customs/Customs (Preventive),
All Principal Chief Commissioners/Chief Commissioners of Customs and Central Tax
All Principal Commissioners/Commissioners of Customs/Customs (Preventive)
All Principal Directors General/Directors General, under CBIC

Madam/Sir,

Telecom equipment in the context of notification No. 02/2019-Customs dated 29-01-2019 amending notification No. 57/2017-Customs dated 30.06.3017

1. Attention of the field formations is invited to Notification No. 57/2017-Customs dated 30.06.2017 amended by Notification No. 02/2019-Customs dated 29.01.2019 which, against tariff items 8517 62 90 and 8517 69 90, gives descriptions of certain goods that are telecommunication products or equipment.

2. In this context, the Board was apprised that some of these technology related descriptions, specifically those at (b) to (h), amongst (a) to (h), in the notification, need to be better understood by all stakeholders for a more effective identification of products and equipment covered therein.

3. Accordingly, in order to make stakeholders more aware in the matter, and in consultation with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT)-

(a) the identification of products/equipment covered thereunder, at (b) to (h) of the notification, is illustrated in Annexure-1;

(b) it is decided that, in terms of the Bill of Entry (Electronic Integrated Declaration and Paperless Processing) Regulations 2018, an identification of products/equipment under 85176290 and 85176990 shall be enabled from the beginning, that is, from the time of filing of import declarations itself, bringing certainty, for which an alpha numeric code/identifier as provided for in Annexure-2 will need to be additionally declared in bill of entry by the importer with effect from 01.04.2023.

4. Suitable Public Notice, etc. may kindly be issued for guidance. Difficulty faced, if any, in implementation may be intimated. The Hindi version follows.

[F. No. 524/11/2022-STO(TU)]
Varun Koundinya
OSD-Tariff Unit

ANNEXURE 1

Notfn. item

Notification description

Identification of products/equipment covered

(b) and (d)

Optical transport equipment and Optical Transport Network products

Machines and apparatus covered include-

i. OTN equipment;

ii. Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexer (DWDM);

iii. Coarse Wavelength Division Multiplexer (CWDM);

iv. Elements of (i), (ii) or (iii) above: ROADM, Booster Amplifiers, Pre-Amplifiers, Inline Amplifiers, Raman Amplifiers, Mux-demux, Transponders, Mux-ponders, OADM and Regenerators, Optical Power Monitoring and Optical Line Protection equipment.

(c)

Combination of one or more of Packet Optical Transport Product or Switch (POTP or POTS)

The Machines/apparatus covered under this category include-

i. Optical Line Terminal (OLT) for FTTX (GPON/EPON/XGSPON/10GEPON/NG-PON2/25GPON/50GPON etc.);

ii. Optical Network Terminal (ONT) for FTTX (GPON/EPON/XGSPON/10GEPON/NG-PON2/25GPON/50GPON etc.).

(e)

Internet Protocol (IP) Radios

The Machines/apparatus covered under this category include-

i. Wi-Fi Access Point Equipment and Wi-Fi Controller;

ii. Repeaters (RF/RF-over-Optical) & In-Building Solution (IBS)-Indoor/Outdoor including active and passive Accessories (2G/3G/4G/5G and onwards);

iii. Wireless Radio Link-(IP/Hybrid) equipment.

(f)

Soft switches and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) equipment, namely, VoIP phones, Media gateways, Gateway controllers and Session border controllers

Card/module or sub-systems converting analog voice signal into digital packets that are carried over internet protocol use one or more of these products. Some examples are-

i. Internet Protocol Private Branch Exchange (IP PBX);

ii. IP Multimedia Systems (IMS);

iii. Unified communication systems (UCS).

(g)

Carrier Ethernet Switches, Packet Transport Node (PTN) products, Multiprotocol Label Switching Transport Profile (MPLS-TP) products

The Machines/apparatus covered under these categories include-

i. IP-MPLS Based equipment;

ii. MPLS-TP based equipment;

iii. SDN Based MPLS equipment;

iv. PTN products for Carrier Ethernet Network (CEN) for Access and Aggregation Network Applications

(h)

Multiple Input/Multiple Output (MIMO) and Long-Term Evolution (LTE) products

The Machines/apparatus covered under these categories include-

i. 4G(LTE) products and their Elements, namely-eNode B, RRH, CU, DU, RU, BBU, EPC, MME, SGW, PGW, HSS, IMS, Network In a Box (NIB), 4G CPE, etc.;

ii. 5G products and its Elements, namely-gNodeB, RRH, CU, DU, RU, BBU, 5GC, IMS, Network In a Box (NIB), 5G CPE, etc.;

iii. 4G and 5G enabled NB IoT devices;

iv. Equipment incorporating technologies beyond 5G.

ANNEXURE 2

Identifier

Product/equipment against tariff heading 85176290 or 85176990

A

Wrist wearable devices (Commonly known as smart watches)

MAA001

WWD-smart watches

B&D

Optical Transport Equipment & Optical Transport Network (OTN) Products in item (b) & (d) of notification

TEBOOl

OTE-ROADM

TEB002

OTE-Booster Amplifiers

TEB003

OTE-Pre-Amplifiers

TEB004

OTE-Inline Amplifiers

TEB005

OTE-Mux-Demux

TEB006

OTE-Transponders

TEB007

OTE-Muxponders

TEB008

OTE-Raman Amplifiers

TEB009

OTE-OADM

TEB010

OTE-Regenerators

TEB011

OTE-Optical Power Monitoring

TEB012

OTE-Optical Line Protection

TEB999

OTE-Others

C

Combination of one or more of Packet Optical Transport Product or Switch (POTP or POTS) in item (c) of notification

(C1)

Optical Line Terminal

TEC101

OLT-GPON

TEC102

OLT-EPON

TEC103

OLT-XGSPON

TEC104

OLT-10GEPON

TEC105

OLT-NG-PON2

TEC106

OLT-25GPON

TEC107

OLT-50GPON

TEC199

OLT-Others

(C2)

Optical Network Terminal/Unit

TEC201

ONT-GPON

TEC202

ONT-EPON

TEC203

ONT-XGSPON

TEC204

ONT-10GEPON

TEC205

ONT-NG-PON2

TEC206

ONT-25GPON

TEC207

ONT-50GPON

TEC299

ONT-Others

E

Internet Protocol Radios in item (e) of notification

TEE001

IPR-WiFi Access Point Equipment

TEE002

IPR-WiFi Controller

TEE003

IPR-Repeaters (RF/RF-over-Optical) & In-Building Solution (IBS)-Indoor/

 

Outdoor including Active and passive Accessories (2G/3G/4G/5G and onwards)

TEE004

IPR-Wireless Radio Link (IP/Hybrid equipment)

TEE999

IPR-Others

F

Soft switches and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) equipment in item (f) of notification

TEF001

VoIP-VOIP Phones

TEF002

Media Gateways

TEF003

Gateway Controllers and Session Border Controllers

TEF004

Internet Protocol Private Branch Exchange (IP PBX)

TEF005

IP Multimedia Subsystems (IMS)

TEF006

Unified Communication Systems (UCS)

TEF007

Card/Module or Subsystem converting analog voice signal into digital packets that are carried over internet protocol that uses one or more of these products [other than IP PBX, IMS, UCS]

TEF999

VoIP-Others

G

Carrier Ethernet Switches, Packet Transport Node (PTN) products, Multiprotocol Label Switching Transport Profile (MPLS-TP) products in item (g) of notification

TEG001

IP-MPLS based Equipment

TEG002

PTN based Equipment

TEG003

MPLS-TP based Equipment

TEG999

Others

H

Long-Term Evolution (LTE) (4G based) and Multiple Input/Multiple Output (MIMO) in item (h) of notification

(H1)

Long-Term Evolution (LTE) (4G based)

TEH101

4G-RRH

TEH102

4G-RU

TEH103

4G-BBU

TEH104

4G-CU

TEH105

4G-DU

TEH106

4G-eNodeB

TEH107

4G-CPE

TEH108

4G-EPC

TEH109

4G-IMS

TEH110

4G-Network In A Box (NIB)/Compact LTE System

TEH111

4G-SGW

TEH112

4G-PGW

TEH199

4G-Others

(H2)

Multiple Input/Multiple Output (MIMO) (5G based)

TEH201

5G-RRH

TEH202

5G-RU

TEH203

5G-BBU

TEH204

5G-CU

TEH205

5G-DU

TEH206

5G-gNodeB

TEH207

5G-CPE

TEH008

5G-5GC

TEH209

5G-IMS

TEH210

5G-Network In A Box (NIB)/Compact System

TEH299

5G and Next Generation products-Others

Z

Others

MAZ999

all goods other than those covered in (a) to (h) of Sl. no. 20 Of notification 57/2017-customs as amended by notification No. 02/2019-Customs dated 29.01.2019

ABBREVIATIONS

Abbreviations used are listed below:

DSL

Digital Subscriber Line

ADSL

Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line

vdsl

Very High-Rate Digital Subscriber Line

HDSL

High-bit-rate digital subscriber line

sdsl

Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line

ITU

International Telecommunication Union

ISDN

Integrated Services Digital Network

MPEG

Moving Picture Experts Group

OTN

Optical Transport Network

DXC

Digital Cross Connector

DCI

Data Center Interconnect

WSS

Wavelength Selective Switch

ROADM

Reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer

EDFA

Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier

FTTH

Fiber to the home

GPON

Gigabit Passive Optical Network

EPON

Ethernet passive optical network

NG-PON2

Next-Generation Passive Optical Network 2

ONU

Optical Network Unit

APs

Access Points

RF

Radio Frequency

TDM

Time Division Multiplexing

VoIP

Voice over IP

RFC

Request for Comments

RRH

Remote Radio Head

RU

Radio Unit

DU

Distributed Unit

CPE

Customer premises equipment

EPC

Evolved Packet Core

IMS

IP Multimedia Subsystem

5GC

5G Core

eNB

eNodeB

BBU

Baseband Unit

RRU

Remote Radio Unit

AAU

Active antenna processing unit

MME

Mobility Management Entity

SGW

Serving gateway

HSS

Home Subscriber Server

PCRF

Policy and Charging Rules Function

AMF

Access and Mobility Management Function

UPF

User Plane Function

HSS

Home Subscriber Server