F.No.JS/C/2017-CEIB

Government of India

Ministry of Finance

Department of Revenue

Central Board of Excise and Customs

Working Group for effective implement of Article 1 of TFA

3 January 2017

Sub: Invitation of suggestions from stakeholders and officers, on consolidation of Rules and Regulations and review of procedures to bring about a quantum jump in the ease of doing business -reg:

The Central Board of Excise and Customs has constituted (F.NO. 401/199/2016-Cus Ill dated 21 December 2016) a Working Group for effective implementation of Article 1 of the Trade Facilitation Agreement with the following composition and Terms of Reference.

Composition

1.  P. V. Subba Rao JS (COFEPOSA) (Working Group Leader)

2.  Dr. Satish S. Dhavale, Addl. Commissioner (Import) Mumbai Zone Ill

3.  T. Prabhakar, DC, CCO, Chennai Zone

4.  Manish Kumar, DC, ACC (Import) New Delhi

Terms of Reference of the Working Group:

i.  Prepare a ready reckoner in the form of a matrix listing all the existing Rules and Regulations and Circulars corresponding to each Section of the Act. Give suggestions on cross-referencing the Sections of the Customs Act with Rules, Regulations, Notifications and Circulars issued by the Board.

ii.  Consolidate the Rules and Regulations into as few sets of Rules and Regulations as possible, aligning them, to the extent possible, with the Sections of the Act. Give suggestions on subject-wise indexing of provisions of the Customs Act, Rules, Regulations, Notifications and Circulars.

iii.  Consolidate Notifications issued under Section 11 into a single notification aligning it with the Customs Tariff headings. Wherever possible, the compulsory compliance requirements under other laws should be incorporated into the Notification so that all restrictions on imports and exports in the country are available at a glance in one notification.

iv.  Examine if any other changes in the rules, regulations and procedures can be made to bring about a quantum jump in the ease of doing business.

v.  To give suggestions on a mechanism to ensure regular and timely updating and providing ready references.

The Working Group shall consult stakeholders and officers of the Department in this exercise. All officers of the Department should extend full cooperation to the Working Group. The Working Group should submit its interim report covering (i) and (iii) above within 45 days, and the final report within 90 days, to the Board.

2.  As may be seen from the TOR above, this is a major, time-bound exercise to consolidate all Customs Rules and Regulations, and to review procedures to bring about a quantum jump in the ease of doing business in consultation with stakeholders and officers of the Department.

3.  All stakeholders (Customs Brokers, Importers, Exporters, Custodians, Consultants, etc.) and officers of the department are invited to email their suggestions to the Working Group to [email protected] by 30 January 2017.

P. V. Subba Rao

Joint Secretary (COFEPOSA)

Copy to:

All Officers of the Department and all Stakeholders

Trade facilitation agreement implementation invites stakeholder suggestions to consolidate customs rules and improve ease of doing business. A Working Group will implement Article 1 of the Trade Facilitation Agreement by preparing a matrix cross referencing existing Customs Rules, Regulations, Notifications and Circulars with the Act, consolidating rules and tariff aligned notifications, incorporating compulsory compliance requirements from other laws, and proposing subject wise indexing, procedural changes to improve ease of doing business, and a mechanism for regular updating; the Group will consult stakeholders and submit interim and final reports within prescribed timeframes.