Amendment to Customs Act to confuse traders

Most importers will find it difficult to comply with these requirements, as they have no independent means to verify the origin criteria

The government, through the Finance Bill, 2020 (Clause 108), has proposed to amend the Customs Act, 1962, introducing a new Chapter V AA (Section 28DA) for administration of Rules of Origin (RoO) under Trade Agreements. The idea is to cast onerous responsibilities on the importer and give substantial powers to the Customs to deny exemptions under notifications giving effect to various trade agreements.  

India has entered into 16 preferential or free trade agreements with various countries. In all these agreements, concessional duty is extended on the basis of the origin of the goods. The RoO are clearly spelt out in these