Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has issued draft rule on Electronic way (e-way) bill which requires registered entities to upload in a prescribed format on the GSTN website the details of website the details of movement within a state or outside the State of any goods of a value exceeding Rs 50,000.

The entire process requires participation by the supplier, the transporter and the recipient, if he is a registered person.

Obligation of the supplier:

Information relating to the Goods needs to be furnished in the GSTN portal in the prescribed form before commencement of movement of goods in cases where consignment value exceeds Rs. 50,000/-. The aforesaid information needs to be furnished even if a particular movement is not a supply and in cases where a registered person purchases goods from an unregistered person.

If the registered person (as a consignor) makes the Transportation of Goods by own conveyance or hired he has to generate the e-way bill.

Obligation of the Transporter

Where the E Way bill is not generated in the aforesaid manner by the registered person and the goods are handed over to a Transporter, the registered person shall furnish the information relating to the transport  and E Way bill shall be generated by the Transporter on the basis of information furnished by the registered person

In the case of transportation if the transporter transfers the goods to another vehicle due to any exigencies like accident etc, before such transfer or during transit transporter shall generate a new e way bill.

If the value of all goods carried in the conveyance is more than Rs. 50,000 then the transporter shall generate FORM GST INS1 on the basis of Invoices/ Bill of Supply/ Delivery challan prior to movement of goods

The person in charge of a conveyance shall carry:

(a)  The invoice or bill of supply or delivery challan, as the case may be; and

(b)  A copy of e way bill: Either physically or mapped to a Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID) embedded on to the conveyance.

Obligation of the Recipient:

In case the recipient is also a registered person, the details of e way bill will be communicated to the recipient who on receipt of the aforesaid information, to communicate his acceptance or rejection of the consignment covered by the e way bill. within 72 hours in the common portal; otherwise his acceptance will be presumed towards the consignment.

Validity of E Way bill:

The e-way bill will remain valid for the period as mentioned in following table from the time of generation of e way bill:

Cancellation of E Way bill:

In case e way bill has been generated but goods are either not being transported, the e way bill may be cancelled within 24 hours of its generation. However such e way bill cannot be cancelled if it has been verified in transit.

Inspection, Verification of documents and conveyances and detention during transit:

The officer if authorized may intercept any conveyance to verify the e way bill for all interstate and intra-state movement of goods on specific information.

A summary report of the inspection of goods would be expected to be submitted within 24 hours of inspection and the final report within three days.

Where the physical verification of goods being transported has been done during transit, no further physical verification shall be carried out unless there is specific information relating to evasion of tax.

Where a vehicle has been intercepted and detained for a period exceeding 30 minutes, the transporter may upload the said information in the common portal.

We are of the view that these process may first be tried on sensitive, evasion-prone commodities instead of making it mandatory across all commodities

Suggestions on the Rules are invited by April 21, 2017 to at gst-cbec@gov.in. The GST council is expected to discuss and approve the draft rules in their meeting on  18^th and 19^th May 2017.