Govt forms panel to draw road map for trade facilitation

The government today set up a committee under the Cabinet Secretary for developing the roadmap for trade facilitation.
Consequent to India's ratification of the WTO Agreement on Trade Facilitation (TFA) in April 2016, the National Committee on Trade Facilitation (NCTF) has been constituted, the finance ministry said in a statement.
The inter-ministerial body on trade facilitation NCTF will be chaired by the Cabinet Secretary. Its Secretariat will be housed within the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) in the Directorate General of Export Promotion.
The establishment of the Committee is part of the mandatory, institutional arrangement of the TFA.

Besides the Cabinet Secretary, NCTF would have Secretaries in the departments of Revenue, Commerce, Home, Agriculture, Shipping, Health.
It will also have Chairman CBEC, Chairman Railway Board, and Director General Foreign Trade as Members. Major trade associations like CII, FICCI and FIEO etc are also its Members.

"The defined objective behind setting up the NCTF is to have a national level body that will facilitate domestic co-ordination and implementation of TFA provisions. It will play the lead role in developing the pan-India road map for trade facilitation," the ministry said.
It will be instrumental in synergising the various trade facilitation perspectives across the country and will also focus on an outreach programme for sensitisation of all stakeholders about TFA.

NCTF will have a three-tier structure with the main national committee that will be the pivot for monitoring the implementation of the TFA. There will be a steering committee below it that will be chaired by Member, Customs, CBEC and which will be responsible for identifying the nature of required legislative changes.
It will have the responsibility to form and monitor the working of adhoc working groups of experts that will deal with specific trade facilitation issues, the statement said.
With 24 members in total, NCTF can co-opt any representatives from the State Governments on relevant issues. The steering committee will be a core group having 15 members from various Ministries and trade bodies.

The First Meeting of NCTF with the Cabinet Secretary as the Chair is likely to be convened shortly, it added.