The Union Cabinet today approved the text of a new MOU to be signed between India and United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on Mutual Administrative Assistance to facilitate Co-operation in the Prevention, Detection, Investigation and Combating of Customs Offences.

The MOU provides for assistance by sharing information and intelligence to facilitate proper application of Customs law and prevention, detection, investigation and combating of Customs offences. The assistance under the MOU shall be provided in accordance with the national laws within the competence and available resources of the Customs administration. The MOU also provides for "capacity enhancement" by way of cooperation in exchange of information on new Customs law enforcement techniques, modern technologies and on developments in policy, legislation and the evolution of best practices.

The provisions in the approved MOU have been framed to enable systematic and structured exchange of information, including a separate Service Level Framework, to facilitate expeditious response on requests within a prescribed time frame. This Agreement will significantly help the Indian Customs Administration in getting reliable information to enable detection and investigation of Customs violations, particularly in the critical area of under-valuation of imports and over-valuation of exports and the consequent fraudulent availment of export incentives.

BACKGROUND:

A MOU between the Central Board of Excise & customs, India (CBEC) and Her Majesty's revenue and Customs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (HMRC) on Cooperation in Customs Matters was signed on 16.03.2001. After mutual discussion, it was agreed that the existing MOU needs to be replaced by a new MOU in light of the current requirements and to provide for systematic exchange of data and information. Mutual administrative assistance in customs fosters structured information exchange and capacity enhancement to tackle valuation and related offences. The MOU creates a structured mechanism for sharing information and intelligence to prevent, detect, investigate and combat customs offences, subject to each administration's national laws, competence and available resources, and includes provisions for capacity enhancement through cooperation on enforcement techniques, technologies, policy and best practices, together with a Service Level Framework to ensure time bound, expeditious responses to requests.