AUGUST 31, 2020

By Sonia Gupta, Partner and Kritika Kalra, Associate, Ashok Dhingra Associates

FROM what started with reporting as a cluster of cases of pneumonia in Wuhan of Hubei Province, China lead to World Health Organization (WHO) declaring outbreak of Coronavirus a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on January 30, 2020 and finally characterizing coronavirus disease as Global Pandemic.

COVID-19 has brought in global uncertainty with priority being saving lives, curtailing spread of virus, least disruption to trade and business and rebooting economies. Trade facilitation has always been priority of World Customs Organization (WCO), which can be further supplemented by enhancing efficiency and effectiveness of Customs administrations in harmonizing and simplifying Customs procedures. Trade facilitation has become all the more important in current Pandemic situation because in times of crisis aid to affected countries is to be provided expeditiously as effectiveness of humanitarian assistance depends largely on speed with which it is provided. These unprecedented times calls for Customs administrations to facilitate not only movement of relief goods but goods in general but travel extra miles to help speedy clearance of import export to soften impact of COVID-19 on societies and economies.

WCO urged its Members to apply WCO standards and guidelines in case of Natural Disasters to current Pandemic, which is similar to current situation. WCO also invited Member Customs Administrations to share their administration's best practices to prevent and fight spread of disease. WCO Secretariat also developed a document highlighting measures grouped into the following categories, effective implementation of which will help in mitigating ill effects of Pandemic:

i) Facilitating Cross-border Movement of Relief and Essential Supplies;

ii) Supporting Economy and Sustaining Supply Chain Continuity;

iii) Protecting Staff; and

iii) Protecting Society.

Here we enlist Indian Customs Administrations' efforts in implementation of measures recommended by WCO to deal with challenges posed to the humanity by Global Pandemic.

Starting with first measure to facilitate cross border movement of relief and essential supplies, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) directed all Customs field formations to prioritize and facilitate shipment of Critical Goods comprising of drugs, pharmaceuticals, testing kits, personal protection equipment kits (PPEs) to countries battling with Pandemic, which were largely donation from Indian Government. Further, exemption from Basic Customs Duty and Health Cess was granted to inputs used in manufacture of ventilators, masks, PPEs, testing kits, etc. Clearance of imported edible oils and food grains are permitted on the basis of visual examination without waiting for analysis report and no objection certificate is issued subsequently on receipt of analysis report. Further, importers are advised to file advance import declaration to enable expeditious customs clearance to prevent clogging of customs area.

Towards implementation of second measure of WCO of supporting economy and sustaining supply chain continuity, the CBIC actively coordinated with other Ministries to ensure that Customs operations are treated as essential service during lockdown allowing smooth operations at customs stations; implementation of 24x7 Custom clearance facility across all Customs formation; condonation of delay in filing import declarations and waive late filing fees, penalties in genuine cases while dealing with cargo coming from affected areas; single window helpdesk for EXIM trade to facilitate quick resolution of issues faced by importer/ exporter; dispensing with giving different types of bonds on account of non-availability of stamp papers during lock down period and to accept undertaking on plain paper; special refund and drawback disposal drive to provide relief specially to MSMEs; allowing provisional clearance of goods granting preferential treatment without submission of original signed certificates of origin; extension of validity period for duty free imports against existing export performance certificates and of Authorized Economic Operator Certificates expiring between specified period.

Measures taken for protecting staff includes instructions to Customs Officers to follow social distancing norms, use of masks, gloves and sanitizers and setting up of contingency fund to take care of health and safety of frontline officers. Measures of trade facilitation includes setting up of Turant Suvidha Kendra at all Customs formations; contactless import clearance by launching faceless assessment of Bills of Entry (BOE) at 4 major ports; e-delivery of PDF Gatepass and out of charge copy of BOE to custom brokers/ importers and hearings in proceedings by video conferencing.

For protecting society, successful implementation of Vande Bharat Mission ensuring seamless transportation of thousands of passengers to India and facilitating repatriation of stranded citizens of other countries through various ports and airports. Further, WCO has released alarming reports quoting seizures of counterfeit critical medical supplies such as facemasks, hand sanitizers, etc. Considering shortage of Critical Goods and to curb sale of counterfeit goods, many countries including India have introduced export licenses for export of Critical Goods. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade has recently amended export policy of 2/3 ply Surgical Masks and Medical Goggles from Prohibited to Restricted with specified monthly export quota for issuing export license to eligible applicants as per specified criteria.

The CBIC proactively sensed the impact Pandemic would have on global supply chain and took all possible measures to ensure smooth operations of customs at all locations following guidelines relating to health and social discussing issued by the WHO from time to time. The CBIC lead from the front in facilitating seamless cross border transaction and is very well prepared to respond to any crisis and implement processes and procedures to address emergency circumstances and put national economy on the path to recovery.

Needless to say, Indian Government as a single unit proactively understood gravity of Pandemic and timely put in place measures of screening of international passengers as early as mid-January; upgrading health infrastructure to deal with medical exigencies; enforcement of total lockdown on March 24, 2020 extended from time to time and unlocking in phased manner; timely announcement by the Reserve Bank of India of moratorium of 3 months on term loans and working capital interest to ease burden of repayment of debt; announcement of various financial and stimulus packages to revive economy speaks volumes about our preparedness as a nation to deal with unprecedented crisis like the Pandemic. These timely measures by the Government have softened impact of Pandemic, which still continues to raise its ugly head more vigorously. Citizens and corporates also need to contribute by following guidelines issued by the authorities from to time and also contribute liberally for various social welfare causes. Concerted efforts by all will help humanity to succeed against this Pandemic.

[The views expressed are strictly personal.]