In News: Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) launched its flagship programme Turant Customs at Bengaluru and Chennai.
Key Points
- This step has been taken by CBIC for fulfilling its commitment to a Faceless, Paperless, and Contactless Customs under the umbrella of its “Turant Customs” programme.
- The launch of paperless documentation on exports is a sequel to a similar initiative that was begun for imports w.e.f. 15th April 2020.
- Green Customs: These initiatives will do away with the present requirement to take paper printout of these documents thereby promoting Green Customs.
- Business Friendly: Equally importantly exporters would not have to visit the Customs Houses for this purpose and can better utilize their time in promoting their business.
- Implementation: Turant Customs, which has as its main component Faceless Assessment, would be implemented in phases across the entire country by 1st January 2021.
- Benefits: These reforms are based on enhanced use of digital technology to reduce the time and costs for the importers, exporters and other stakeholders, thereby improving India’s ranking in the World Bank’s “Trading Across Borders” parameter of its Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) index.
- India improved to rank 80 on “Trading Across Borders” parameter as compared with 146 in 2018.
- This was possible due to reforms like Single Window Interface for Facilitating Trade, e-Sanchit (e-Storage and computerised handling of indirect tax documents), and Direct Port Delivery.
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC)
- It comes under the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance.
- The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) was renamed as the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) in 2018 after the roll out of Goods and Services Tax (GST).
- It is the nodal national agency responsible for administering:
- Customs
- GST
- Central Excise
- Service Tax
- Narcotics in India
The World Customs Organization (WCO
The World Customs Organization (WCO), established in 1952 as the Customs Co-operation Council (CCC) is an independent intergovernmental body whose mission is to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of Customs administrations.
- As the global centre of Customs expertise, the WCO is the only international organization with competence in Customs matters and can rightly call itself the voice of the international Customs community.
- The WCO has divided its Membership into six Regions. Each of the six Regions is represented by a regionally elected Vice-Chairperson to the WCO Council.
Roles and functions:
- As a forum for dialogue and exchange of experiences between national Customs delegates, the WCO offers its Members a range of Conventions and other international instruments, as well as technical assistance and training services.
- Besides the vital role played by the WCO in stimulating the growth of legitimate international trade, its efforts to combat fraudulent activities are also recognized internationally.
- WCO has also been responsible for administering the World Trade Organization’s Agreements on Customs Valuation, which provide a system for placing values on imported goods, and the Rules of Origin, which are used to determine the origin of a given commodity.
Source: The Hindu
