Beyond Borders - The Customs and International Trade (C&IT) Journal | February 2020

BDO in India presents Beyond Borders - The Customs & International Trade Journal. The bi- monthly issue of the C&IT journal covers recent developments in the world of Customs & Foreign Trade in India, current global & trends and insights on recent case developments in the space.

Cover story on the Finance Act 2020 and its attempt to restrict FTA abuse.

Since the ‘Rules of Origin’ (RoO) determine the national source of a product and define the important yet ambiguous ‘Country of Origin’, they have been a matter of grave concern in matters of international trade. With the ambition to strengthen the ‘RoO’ prescribed under the Free Trade Agreement (FTA), the Hon’ble Finance Minister Ms Nirmala Sitharaman proposed a number of measures in the Union Budget 2020. India views FTAs as a vital tool to enhance its trade and investment and in order to restrict the abuse of the preferential tariff treatment under these FTAs, the proposed amendment places strict obligations on importers.

In this edition, Beyond Borders discusses the WTO mandate on trading amongst member countries including the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) concept, exception to MFN treatment as prescribed by WTO, Rules of Origin, India’s FTA experience and the policy objective behind Union Budget proposals regarding the Rules of Origin.

We hope you have an insightful read.