सिंहदरबार संवाददाता
Kathmandu. The private sector has suggested making customs administration more efficient for trade facilitation. During the discussion on the ‘Bill to Amend and Unify Customs Laws, 2080’ in the Finance Committee under the House of Representatives today, stakeholders from the private sector have suggested removing procedural hassles during customs clearance and reducing the discretionary powers of employees.
The committee discussed the bill with the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the Confederation of Nepalese Industries and the Nepal Chamber of Commerce today. On that occasion, representatives of the private sector emphasized the need to prepare adequate infrastructure for quarantine and quality testing of goods and the need to reduce the deposit amount.
Chairman of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries Rajesh Kumar Agrawal said that the bill did not cover the issues of information technology and electricity trade. “The proposed bill does not make any provision regarding software exports. Similarly, it has not been clarified whether electricity trade comes under the purview of customs or not,” said Chairman Agrawal. Similarly, the federation has emphasized the need to establish a separate judicial body for administrative review to resolve any dispute arising in the customs clearance process.
Deepak Shrestha, Vice President of Nepal Chamber of Commerce, said that the businessmen have suffered the impact of the customs and tax offices being given the target of revenue collection. Similarly, he suggested that the reference price book used during customs clearance should be abolished and the classification of goods should be systematized according to the ‘Harmonized Code’.
The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry has suggested that if the customs office is not satisfied with the sample test conducted during customs clearance, it should be checked by other bodies. The federation said that the existing system of keeping a 50 percent deposit when checking an item if a customs officer has doubts about such an item during customs clearance is necessary to amend it to a 25 percent deposit.
The federation has also suggested that the current system of imposing a 100 percent penalty for under or over declaration should be amended to 50 percent. The government has brought the bill as there is a need to amend the Customs Act to make the customs clearance process more technology-friendly and convenient and to make it compatible with the Kyoto Convention, to which Nepal is a party. Nepal is a party to the Revised Kyoto Convention Agreement and the Trade Facilitation Agreement of the World Trade Organization.
According to these agreements, the Convention states that the general provisions of the Revised Kyoto Convention should be implemented within three years of becoming a member and the transitional measures within five years. Similarly, the government has brought this bill stating that it is necessary to address the provisions related to customs through the Customs Act for trade facilitation.
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