ATA Carnet Scheme designed to promote international trade

M. Sreedhar Reddy, Commissioner, Customs Calicut, inaugurated the Workshop on ATA Carnet organised by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in association with Malabar Chamber of Commerce, Calicut Chamber of Commerce and Kerala Chamber of Commerce here today.

Highlighting the importance of the workshop for the local export community, Deepak L. Aswani, Co-Chairman, FICCI, Kerala State Council, stated, "The workshop is a great initiative by FICCI in educating people on the use of Carnet and appreciating the value it brings to the export community."

Nirankar Saxena, Senior Director, FICCI, believes that ATA Carnet has tremendous benefits. According to him, FICCI was working on a special framework for the MSME sector to increase the usage of ATA Carnet.

There was also a presentation made on the application and practical usages of ATA Carnet by Vijayalakshmi, Deputy Director, FICCI.

K. Janardanan, Airport Director (AAI), Kozhikode International Airport, Calicut made a special address on the occasion.

ATA Carnet is a temporary admission document which simplifies the customs procedures and clearances in a foreign country, without paying duty or a bank guarantee for temporary import into that country. Like a passport for goods, ATA Carnet allows for the goods for which it was issued to enter any of the participating countries for up to one year. An ATA Carnet holder can avoid customs declaration and can do away with security deposit or guarantees in the country of importation. In India, FICCI is the sole National Guarantor for ATA Carnets.

ATA Carnet covers several areas - including trade fairs, shows, exhibitions and meetings for temporary export into a country which is a signatory to the conventions governing ATA Carnets.

At present 75 countries recognize ATA Carnet, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Spain, UAE, UK and USA.

To facilitate Carnet like mechanism for temporary movement of goods/exhibits between India and Taiwan, a protocol has also been signed between FICCI in India and TAITRA in Taiwan.

The Government is actively considering expanding the scope of ATA Carnet convention. At present, India is a signatory to convention on exhibitors and fairs only. It is proposed to expand the same to cover commercial samples, professional equipment, private exhibitions, film shootings, musical troupes, sports and media coverage.

FICCI, which is the National Issuing and Guaranteeing Association (NIGA) for implementing ATA Carnets in India, is pursuing the matter with the Ministry of Finance for the expansion of scope of system to cover professional equipment and commercial samples.

Nirankar Saxena, Senior Director, FICCI, stated that ATA Carnet is a joint initiative of the World Customs Organization (WCO) and ICC World Chambers Federation (WCF), which initiated the ATA Carnet (ATA and Istanbul Conventions). He added that WCO and WCF/WATAC jointly administer the ATA carnet system worldwide and it ensures its smooth functioning and helps to promote its use and expansion throughout the World.