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India has signed reciprocal arrangement for exchange of information for facilitating trade with Japan and Philippines

 On 20 Dec 2022, Central Government issued gazette notification (No. 111/2022 - Customs (N.T.)  dated 20th Dec 2022 directing that provisions of the section 151B of Customs Act, 1962 shall be apply to the agreement or arrangement on Cooperation and Mutual Administrative Assistance (CMAA) in customs matters entered with Japan and Philippines. Applicability of this notification is subject to the conditions, exceptions or qualifications stipulated in notification.

What is section 151B and its scope: This section was inserted through finance Act 2018, date 29.03.2018. It has recognized reciprocal arrangement with govt of other countries or competent authorities for exchange of information facilitating trade. Earlier also, the central govt exercised its power by issued notification No. 58/2021-customs (N.T.) dated 1st July 2021, to recognized 32 contracting parties[1] for applicability of custom law and corresponding law of contracting parties on custom matters. Under this section, the central government may enter into an agreement or any other arrangement with the government of any country outside India or with such competent authorities of that country, as it deems fit, for facilitation of trade, enforcing the provisions of this Act and exchange of information for trade facilitation, effective risk analysis, verification of compliance and prevention, combating and investigation of offences under the provisions of this Act or under the corresponding laws in force in that country.

How this can be useful for international trade and customs?

It is relevant that with this notification, parties may use information as evidence in investigations and proceedings. This will allow the parties to put the necessary tools for customs cooperation in place for the benefit of world trade and international assistance to fight against customs fraud. This is a great effort to bring simplification and harmonisation of customs procedures, taking into account the work done by international organisations like for example the World Customs Organisation (WCO) and the World Trade Organisation (WTO). In near future, we can expect similar kind of arrangements as continuous efforts of countries or competent authorities to simplify and harmonize global trade and custom matters.

[1] Arab Republic of Egypt  2 Australia 3 Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka Agreement 4 European Community 5 Federative Republic of Brazil 6 Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan 7 Hong Kong 8 Islamic Republic of Iran 9 Islamic Republic of Pakistan 10 Malaysia 11 Member States of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) 12 Member States of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) 13 Mongolia 14 Oriental Republic of Uruguay 15 People’s Republic of China 16 Republic of Argentina  17 Republic of Korea  18 Republic of Maldives 19 Republic of Peru  20 Republic of Singapore 21 Republic of South Africa  22 Republic of Tajikistan 23 Republic of Turkey 24 Republic of Uzbekistan 25 Russian 26 Socialist Republic of Viet Nam 27 State of Israel  28 State of Qatar  29 United Arab Emirates 30 United Kingdom of Great Britain 31 United Mexican  32 United States of America




 

 


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