The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, has issued a Standard Operating Procedure for the clearance of imported goods through Foreign Post Offices under the Postal Import Regulations, 2025. The SOP has been notified through Circular No. 35/2026-Customs dated 6 August 2026.
The SOP seeks to establish a uniform regulatory and procedural framework for the assessment and clearance of personal postal imports through Foreign Post Offices. It provides for a technology-driven and risk-based Customs clearance system through the FPO Import Application, developed in accordance with the Postal Import Regulations, 2025, issued vide Notification No. 18/2025-Customs (N.T.) dated 28 March 2025.
The FPO Import Application is presently operational at Foreign Post Offices in Bengaluru, Kochi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Chennai and Delhi, as well as at APSO Mumbai. The application has also been integrated with the Risk Management System, enabling automated risk assessment and system-based facilitation of postal import articles.
Under the prescribed procedure, the Postal Authority will electronically present the details of imported postal articles to the proper Customs officer on the day of their arrival at the Foreign Post Office. The articles will thereafter be taken up for screening, inspection and further Customs processing without undue delay.
Where Electronic Advance Data is available, Customs assessment may be undertaken before the arrival of the postal articles, based on Risk Management System instructions. In other cases, assessment will be carried out after the articles are presented by the Postal Authority.
Physical examination will ordinarily be restricted to consignments selected by the Risk Management System or identified on the basis of intelligence inputs, regulatory requirements or discrepancies noticed during processing. Where an RMS-facilitated article is taken up for physical examination, the specific reasons for such examination are required to be recorded in the FPO Import Application.
Where additional information or supporting documents are required, the proper officer will issue a Document Call Letter, or D-Call Letter, electronically through the FPO Import Application. The communication will be sent to the importer or authorised agent through the registered email address available in the system. Manual communication may be used where electronic delivery is not feasible.
The SOP stipulates that document-related queries should be specific, relevant and, as far as practicable, consolidated into a single communication. Repeated or piecemeal requisition of documents should ordinarily be avoided to minimise delays in Customs clearance.
Where no response is received within 30 days from the date of receipt of the D-Call Letter, or where the information furnished is inadequate, the proper officer may assess the goods on the basis of the declaration and other information available on record, in accordance with the Customs Act, 1962.
After completion of assessment and other Customs formalities, the proper officer will issue the clearance order through the FPO Import Application. The order will be communicated electronically to the Postal Authority. For non-Electronic Advance Data articles, manual clearance orders may continue until electronic processing is enabled.
The Postal Authority has been directed not to deliver any imported postal article unless the Customs clearance order has been issued and the applicable Customs duty has been paid or realised in accordance with the prescribed procedure.
The SOP applies to the processing of personal imported goods, which constitute the predominant share of postal imports handled through Foreign Post Offices. The processing of non-personal or commercial imported goods will continue to be governed by the existing procedure prescribed under Circular No. 14/2018-Customs dated 4 June 2018.
The Circular can be accessed at: https://taxinformation.cbic.gov.in/view-pdf/1003337/ENG/Circulars
