New Import Policy Order
Ministry sets Oct deadline for drafting
Commerce ministry has set October as the deadline for drafting the import policy order for 2015-2018 after less than expected proposals from stakeholders were made to the ministry on the major trade policy. After drafting the order to be in place for four years up to 2018, the document will be submitted to the cabinet division and law ministry for approvals before the policy comes into effect from the very beginning of next year, a senior trade official at the ministry said.
The ministry of commerce on Wednesday formed a three-member committee, headed by its joint secretary Fatema Begum, to scrutinize the proposals of business communities—mostly from chamber bodies and trade associations.
‘We have given the committee 15 days time to scrutinize the available proposals and to make their opinions on the justifications of proposals for next import policy,’ a trade official concerned told New Age.
‘October is our time limit to finalise the draft policy order as we aim to get the new import policy effective from January 2015 after completing required formalities of law ministry and obtaining approval from the cabinet meeting,’ the official added.
Officials at the commerce ministry said the move to update the existing import policy order was taken in March as they had sought proposals from nearly 500 business organisations including chambers and associations of different diverse sectors.
The number of feedbacks from the stakeholders on the proposed policy was only at 31 until May, the last date mentioned in the letter of commerce ministry, an official said.
After being frustrated over less than expected proposals, the trade officials in June again issued letters to business organisations giving them the July deadline.
‘This time we received another 19 proposals from major trade bodies,’ a trade official said.
He said the businessmen often prefer to lobby individually to bring about any changes in the existing policy to benefit their own interests or they rush at the last minute to include new measures in the new import policy order.
‘Such practices are detrimental to the entire system,’ the official said, adding, no individual interest would be served this time.
The officials concerned said the new policy would take into consideration the concerns from both local and international groups as world trade organisation has long argued to lift import restrictions from a number of products and shorten the list of products under the category of ‘conditional import’ included in the current policy.
A number of countries including the U.S. have also their stances on the next import policy order.
Another official at the commerce ministry said it remains always a difficult task for ministry officials to strike a balance between different demands, proposals and observations made from local and international quarters in the way of preparing a robust new import policy order each four years.
Expressing his frustration, the official concerned said major chamber bodies, who are supposed to focus on local industrialisation, concentrate more on the interests of businessmen they represent.
-With New Age input
