Import duty for Data

Narasimha (28 Points)

10 May 2007  
Hi All,

Our company is SEZ unit eligible of duty free products.  Recently we have received an official communication from Customs authorities that
"IMPORT OF DATA THROUGH DATA COMMUNICATIONS, TELE-COMMUNICATIONS SUCH AS EMAILS, INTERNET DOWNLOADS, FILES TRANMISSION WILL COMES UNDER IMPORT OF SERVICES AND HENCE BILL OF ENTRY HAS TO BE FILED FOR EACH TRANSMISSION FOR OBTAINING DUTY EXEMPTION."

--> We are a BPO unit providing back office operations to our client at USA.  Basically our work here is to receive mails from our client & prepare QUOTATIONS / PURCHASE ORDERS as per the data in the mails & send back to our client.

--> Another kind of work is Medical Transcription, here, we receive audio files from our client through internet & we will convert it into text format and we sent back.

In the above said process, we will not get any ownership of the data, or title for the same.  We are basically serving our client and in return we will be paid neverthless to the uploads / downloads.  We can not VALUE the data we receive from emails or audio files as above said & subsequently we can not file BILL OF ENTRY for the same.

Now, we are in confusion with this.  Can anyone advise what to do?

Best Regards
Narasimha Rao