Paperwork reduced by half

FOREIGN TRADE POLICY/ Procedures

The government today set in motion a process of bringing about procedural simplifications to reduce transaction costs of exporters and thereby increase their competitiveness in the international market.

"The government has accepted the recommendations of the broad-based committee set up under the chairmanship of the director-general of foreign trade (DGFT) to look into the issue," Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said today.

The DGFT has devised a single set of common forms called the 'ayaat niryaat forms', which are a 50-page set against 120 pages in use at present.

With the 'ayaat niryaat forms', exporters can avail of all information on DGFT-related documentation at a single place, in addition to the provision of a web interface for on-line filing and retrieval of documents by the licensing authorities.

Further, exporters can now avail of information on WTO-related issues, non-tariff barriers and sanitary and phyto-sanitary standards from all DGFT offices. The government, however, decided to end the facility of web chat that was announced in the Foreign Trade Policy last year.

The main points in the DGFT recommendations include an internal process of re-engineering to enable greater delegation and simplification of forms and documents and EDI linkage to all community trade partners such as DGFT, Customs, banks and export promotion councils to facilitate web-based filing, retrieval and verification of documents.

The recommendations also propose a fast track mechanism for clearances, examination, testing, quarantine and packaging to be set up by all agencies to facilitate import and export of perishable cargo.

It also lays down time limits for giving approvals and sanctions to different import and export activities by different agencies to ensure a transparent system of working in government departments.

For instance, it specifies a time frame of six months for completing EDI linkage between Customs and DGFT.

It also calls for moving towards an automated electronic environment for all transactions, increased use of information technology such as video-conferencing and digital signatures, and introduction of a special purpose vehicle for electronic license utilisation and transfer mechanism.

The facility of issuing importer-exporter code number (IEC) online would be provided by linking the DGFT database with the income tax PAN database and use of digital signature technology, the recommendations add.