Govt makes it difficult to route Chinese imports via ASEAN

As the Union government fortified the customs rules in order to make a check on the Chinese imports coming into the country via ASEAN countries by taking advantage of India’s free trade agreement, it is now difficult for Beijing to en route the goods in New Delhi. The new rule will come into play from Monday, writes Deputy News Editor, Krishnanand Tripathi.

New Delhi:The Union government has made its biggest move yet to curb the cheap Chinese imports coming into the country via ASEAN countries by taking advantage of India’s free trade agreement with the trade bloc. The new customs rules, that cast the onus on an importer to satisfy the authorities that the goods imported by them comply with the rules of origin requirement, will come into play from Monday.

“The Customs (Administration of Rules of Origin under Trade Agreements) Rules, 2020 (CAROTAR, 2020), shall come into force from September 21, 2020 upon completion of the 30 day period that was given to importers and other stakeholders to familiarize themselves with new provisions,” Finance Ministry said on Friday.

The new rules require importers that the goods imported by them meet the 35% value addition criteria in the ASEAN member country to qualify for duty concessions.

It means that if an importer fails to maintain proper documentation to establish that at least 35% of the value of goods was added in a particular ASEAN member country was added then he will be required to pay full duty.

It will curb misuse of the free trade agreements by non-ASEAN exporters, which may have been routing their goods via ASEAN countries, to take advantage of almost nil duty.

The finance ministry said a list of minimum information, which an importer is required to maintain, has been given with the new rules.

The new Rules will support the importer to correctly ascertain the country of origin, properly claim the concessional duty and assist Customs authorities in the smooth clearance of legitimate imports under FTAs.

“The new rules would strengthen the hands of the Customs in checking any attempted misuse of the duty concessions under FTAs,” Finance Ministry said.