By Sumit Dutt Majumder, Member (CX), CBEC
IT wasa sweltering summer day in 1984. I boarded a bus from Damascus for theoasis city of Palmyra in the Syrian Desert. I was in Damascus to promoteIndian export trade in spices in my capacity as Director (TradePromotion) covering the WANA (West Asia North Africa) Region, posted atBahrain. I was fascinated by Palmyra because it was the capital of thelegendary Queen Xenobia, whose empire extended from the present daySyria in the West to Oman in the East. Queen Xenobia was the last womanruler in the Middle East who had finally succumbed to the Romaninvasion. Many exciting tales in the Middle East are spun around herlegend. Those tales we will leave for another day.
Palmyra,as its name indicates, was a very important oasis city with numerouspalm treesbearing golden and reddish dates. Caravans from Baghdad,bound for Damascus, stopped at Palmyra causing it to prosper as animportant centre of caravan-city trade. In particular, after theconclusion of the Peace Treaty between Rome and Parthia in 20 BC,East-West trade became much more secureand Palmyra became the mostimportant caravan city.
ButI had gone to Palmyra to see the ruins and relics of Queen Xenobia'scapital. The ruins of Palmyra, in all their ancient beauty, stoodtestimony to why the city had come to be known as the Bride in theDesert. Little did I know that a much more exciting discovery, whichbore a connection to the profession I hailed from, was waiting for me inPalmyra. After a long walk down the ruins full of temples with statuesof Gods and Goddesses which resembled Hindu Gods and Goddesses, I saw inthe distance a long wall standing tall in the vast Desert. On asking myGuide, he informed me to my utter astonishment that this was theremains of the Customs Wall'. The caravans in transit from Baghdad toDamascus, or vice-versa, had to stop at Palmyra, and pay Customs dutyhere. On approaching the wall I found certain prominent portions havebeen expertly cut out. On inquiry, I was told that in one of the gaps ofthe wall there had stood the Customs Tariff of Palmyra. The Guide,however, could not tell me where that portion of the wall containing theCustoms Tariff lies today. I left Palmyra with mixed feelings. Therewas a sense of satisfaction at finally seeing the ruins of QueenXenobia's capital, and at discovering the Customs Wall of Palmyra. Butthere was also a new unfulfilled quest. I wanted to find the portion ofthe wall containing the Customs Tariff, and get a sense of how mypredecessors from this foreign land would go about their profession, as Iwent about mine.
Adecade later when I got the opportunity of visiting the World CustomsOrganization (WCO) Headquarters at Brussels on a few occasions forattending the Technical Committee meetings on Customs Valuation, thepeople at the WCO told me that the Customs Tariff Wall of Palmyra' which is what it was calledhad formed an important part of itsMunicipal Tax Law which was engraved on a huge stone of the size 175 cm X480 cm in Greek and Aramaic. This Law was dated 18th April 137 AD.Since the Tariff was only a part of the Municipal Tax Law, the stonealso has inscriptions relating to other taxes such as the tax on the useof water. However, most of the State's revenue was undoubtedly derivedfrom the Customs Tariff. I had the privilege to see the photograph ofthe Customs Tariff Wall of Palmyra. Here again, no one could tell mewhere it was kept after taking it away from where it belongedthelarger Customs Wall of Palmyra.
Itis said that Emperor Hadrian loved Palmyra so much that as an exceptionhe authorized Palmyra to collect its own tax. And so was born theCustoms Tariff. The Tariff Wall has three columns. The first columncovers items like male slaves, wool, aromatic oil, olive oil and saltedgoods, etc. The second column covers items of leather, wine, corn, strawand similar goods. The third column covers food stuff, camels, etc. Italso indicates the items which are exempt from payment of Customs duty.It is evident from the text on the Customs Tariff that it was based onquantity i.e. all duties were specific. Interestingly, the unit ofquantity was often derived from the means of transportfor instance,per camel or per donkey etc. The text also indicates that the Caravansarriving at the city gate in the Customs Wall must have been inspectedby Customs employees and that these caravans were obliged to pay thenecessary amount of Customs duty on the basis of the Customs Tariff.Related literature indicates that the establishment of engraved CustomsTariff in Palmyra was very much welcomed by Caravan traders, since itprovided transparency of taxation and prevented arbitrary tariff fixingby the tax-farmers (present day tax collectors)a measure of tradefacilitation indeed.
WCOdocuments hail the Customs Tariff of Palmyra as the first recordedCustoms Tariff in the history of mankind which lists differentmerchandises with different rates of duty. These documents alsoacknowledge that although Customs duties had certainly existed before for example, in ancient Egypt and in ancient Greecethey had generallybeen levied at a single rate applied across the board for all kind ofmerchandise. Obviously, where a single rate is applied there is no needof so called Customs Tariff in which different kinds of merchandise areassigned different rates of duty.
However,I must note here that I cannot accept readily the WCO declaration ofPalmyra Customs Tariff as the first Customs Tariff in the history ofmankind, because one is aware that during the Mauryan period (c. 350-283B.C.), Chanakya's Arthasastra laid down in prolific detail the CustomsTariff on Import and Export of goods from the Mauryan Empire. Perhaps,lack of promotion or publicity is responsible for ignoring thisimportant historical fact. Be that as it may, the details about theCustoms Tariff of Palmyra impressed me and the photograph of the tariffwall haunted me for years to come, - especially so because I could notfind out where this Tariff Wall lay.
Oneand half decade later, I visited St. Petersburg in Russia accompanyingMr. P.C. Jha, Chairman, Central Board of Excise & Customs as part ofa delegation to have Customs Cooperation dialogues with our Russiancounterparts. I was then posted as Director General, RevenueIntelligence. While entering the Office of the Collector of Customs atSt. Petersburg, I was pleasantly surprised to notice a small replica ofthe Palmyra Customs Tariff Wall in a corner. I could readily identifyit. Being inquisitive, I asked the Collector of Customs, - is there anyparticular significance for having the replica of the Palmyra CustomsTariff Wall near the door of your Office? Then it was his turn to besurprised that I could identify the replica. When I mentioned that I didvisit Palmyra about two and a half decades back, and had known aboutit, he was overwhelmed. Then he told us the reason for the location ofthe replica in his office. It was simple. The original Palmyra CustomsTariff Wall which has been haunting me for decades since 1984 was ondisplay at the renowned Museum of St. Petersburgthe Armitage. Seeingmy excitement the Collector immediately offered that after the meetinghe would send us to the Armitage and ensure that we had a good look atthe Palmyra Customs Tariff Wall. So eventually I came face to face withthe Customs Tariff Wall of Palmyra. It felt like a long cherished dreamfinally fulfilled.
(The views are strictly personal)
