Circular No. 08/2023
F.No. 524/11/2022-STO(TU)
Government of India
Ministry of Finance, Department of Revenue
Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs
North Block, New Delhi
Dated: 13.03.2023
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,
Subject: 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 - reg
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.
Encl: Annexure -1, 2 & abbreviations list
Varun Koundinya
OSD-Tariff Unit
email: tariffunit-rev@nic.in
Tel:23095557
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
TEB001
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
