Ministry Presents TFA to MPs

A detailed presentation on Trade Facilitation Agreement and the issues concerning its implementation etc was made by Dammu Ravi, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce to the Consultative Committee of MPs on 3 May.

He said that TFA is divided into three parts. Section 1 contains provisions on simplification of border clearance procedures and adoption of new transparency measures and consists of 12 Articles. These 12 Articles extend to several agencies such as Customs, Border Control, Shipping, Plant and Animal Quarantine etc all of which require inter-ministerial cooperation and coordination.

Section 2 of TFA is focused on special needs and requirements of developing country members and Least Developed Country (LDC) members for implementing TFA. Such a member country would have flexibility to determine which commitments to implement immediately upon entry into force of the TF Agreement and which it wants to implement in a phased manner. This Section allows each development country to categorize the provisions of Articles 1-12 of the TFA into three categories ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’. Category A contains provisions that a developing country member designates for implementation upon entry into force of this agreement or in case of LDC member within one year after entry into force; Category B contains provisions that a developing country member or LDC member designates for implementation on a date after a transitional period of time following the entry into the force of this agreement. Category C contains provisions that a developing country member or a LDC member designates for implementation on a date after a transitional period of time following the entry into the force of this agreement and requiring the acquisition of implementation capacity through the provisions of assistance and support for capacity building.

Section 3 deals with institutional mechanism for setting-up a National Committee on Trade Facilitation for domestic cooperation and implementation.

India has notified its Category ‘A’ commitments to the WTO and has ratified the TFA domestically and would be depositing the instrument of ratification to WTO by end of April 2016. India has also initiated the process to set-up a National Committee on Trade Facilitation (NCTF) to domestically coordinate and implement the TFA. The NCTF would institutionalize the co-ordination mechanism in such a manner the 35 plus Departments, private players and State Governments who have international borders are on the same page as far as the trade facilitation is concerned.

Ajay Sancheti, Member (Rajya Sabha) said while implementing WTO Agreement on TFA, adequate measures be taken to protect our domestic industries.

Another Member, P. Goverdhan Reddy, Member (Rajya Sabha) said that dumping of bulk drugs by other countries are causing problems to our domestic industries. He said that pharmaceutical and chemical industries are polluting the environment and it must be ensured that sufficient measures including setting-up of treatment plants are taken in order to save the environment. He said that the Central Government should coordinate with the State Governments and monitor to ensure that these pharmaceutical and chemical industries should set-up treatment plants which are functional so that they do not contaminate the water and environment of surrounding villages.

The meeting was also attended by Chandu Lal Sahu, Member, Lok Sabha. Along with MOS (IC), Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman, the meeting was also attended by Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, Rita Teaotia, Secretary, DIPP, Ramesh Abhishek and other senior officers of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.