Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Railways, Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Commerce & Industry, Hardeep Singh Puri launched Steel Import Monitoring System (SIMS) in New Delhi on September 16.
The system has been developed in consultation with Ministry of Steel on the pattern of US Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA) system.
SIMS will provide advance information about steel imports to the government and stakeholders, including steel producers and importers to facilitate effective policy interventions.
In this system, the importers of specified steel products will register in advance on the web portal of SIMS providing necessary information. The registration will be online and automatic, and no human intervention is required. The importer can apply for registration not earlier than 60th day and not later than 15th day before the expected date of arrival of import consignment. The automatic registration number thus granted shall remain valid for a period of 75 days. The information about the steel imports provided by the importers on the SIMS will be monitored by the steel ministry.
SIMS has been notified with effect from November 1, 2019 vide Notification No.17 of September 5. The system shall require importers to submit advance information in an online system for import of 284 steel tariff lines at 8-digit HS code in order to generate an automatic registration number by paying prescribed registration fee. Importer shall have to enter the registration number and expiry date of registration in the bill of entry to enable customs for clearance of consignment.