Beyond Borders - November 2018

The Customs & International Trade (C&IT) Journal

BDO in India presents Beyond Borders - The Customs & International Trade Journal. The monthly issue of the C&IT journal will cover recent developments in the world of Customs & Foreign Trade in India, current global & technological trends and insights from eminent faces in the trade.

As this issue of ‘Beyond Borders’ is circulated, there is a positive sentiment in the business community mainly because India has moved to 77 in the World Bank’s ‘Ease of Doing Business’ rankings. This is an improvement of 23 places in the past one year alone and 65 places over the past 4 years. While there are many initiatives behind this excellent improvement in the country’s performance (which are evaluated on various parameters), one cannot overlook the role that Customs Trade Facilitation measures have played in making this achievement possible. This is evidenced by over 1000 Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) accreditations awarded by India’s Customs administration to business entities in the country in the past one year alone. However, it is essential for Customs to also recognise the future trends in cross-border trade and this is where the need of the hour lies – the focus should be on e-commerce related Customs trade facilitation, more so after the recent publishing of the Framework of Standards for E-Commerce by the World Customs Organization (WCO). Since India’s Customs regulations for e-commerce trade are still evolving, which is why we decided to carry a feature on the current landscape in this month’s issue of ‘Beyond Borders’.