CBIC redefining NAC role to make Customs assessment more efficient: Johri

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) is redefining the role of National Assessment Centres (NACs) to make faceless assessment in Customs more efficient, its chief Vivek Johri said on Friday.

The CBIC in September last year launched the risk-based faceless assessment system in phases for clearance of imported consignments. For this, 11 Customs Commissionerates were partially re-organised commodity wise as NACs, with pan-India jurisdiction.

Addressing the CII National Conference on Trade Facilitation, Johri said there are gaps in Customs faceless assessment and the department is looking at them.

"We are on the drawing board to redefine the role of NACs to rationalise the whole process and make it more efficient," he said.

The CBIC has already reduced the number of NACs from 11 to 8 to promote specialisation and make them strong.

"We are trying to reactivate them and make them strong, and ensure that there is least divergence of practice in assessment which continues to be a matter of concern for trade," Johri added.

Speaking on trade facilitation, Johri said that CBIC is looking at reducing average cargo release time to one hour by 2047, while focusing on the three most important aspects -- regulatory framework, technology, and infrastructure.

As per the CBIC's National Time Release Study (NTRS) 2023, the average time taken for the release of cargo imported through seaports, inland container depots (ICDs), air cargo complex (ACC) and Integrated Check Post (ICPs) is 85:42 hrs, 71:46 hrs, 44:16 hrs and 31:47 hrs, respectively.

Addressing the event, CBIC Member V Rama Mathew said several dynamic reforms, such as SWIFT 2.0, are in pipeline which will greatly rationalize the documentation procedure for PGAs.

She stated that there is a lot of focus on artificial intelligence and blockchain technology to facilitate smooth auto population of data and ensure data integrity as well as authenticity.

CII National Committee on EXIM Chairman Sanjay Budhia said continued focus on creating a paperless trading ecosystem has started showing results at the ground level with India's score moving up from 78.49 per cent in 2019 to 90.32 per cent in 2021 in the UN Global Survey on Digital and Sustainable Trade Facilitation.