[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Chief Commissioner of Customs has sought stakeholders’ inputs on consolidation of rules and regulations and review of procedures to bring about a quantum jump in ease of doing business. The stakeholders include customs brokers, importers, exporters, custodians, consultants and officers etc.
The Central Board of Excise and Customs has constituted a Working Group for effective implementation of Article 1 of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement. 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. The working group has been directed to submit an interim report within the 45 days and a final report within 90 days to the board.
The Working Group members include P.V. Subba Rao JS(COFEPOSA)(Working Group Leader), Dr Satish S Dhavale, Additional Commissioner(Import) Mumbai Zone III, T Prabhakar, DC, CCO, Chennai Zone, Manish Kumar, DC, ACC(Import) New Delhi. The Working Group should 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. To 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. They should also 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.
The Working Group should 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. The Group should give suggestions on a mechanism to ensure regular and timely updating and providing ready references. In this regard, they should consult stakeholders and officers of the department in this exercise. CBEC urges all officers of the department should extend full cooperation to the Working Group. Following which the Working Group shall submit its interim report covering (i) and (iii) above within 45 days, and the final report within 90 days to the board.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]