The Customs Act is adaptable and resilient in meeting the needs of the time, even in the face of new generational social, legal and technological challenges, according to Vivek Johri, chairman of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs.
The act serves three functions—collection of revenue, border control and facilitating legitimate international trade in goods, said Johri, while speaking at an event commemorating the 60th year of the Customs Act of 1962.
Johri highlighted the change in role of customs from revenue generation to trade facilitation. The share of custom duties in the total indirect tax revenue was about 44% in 1990-91, before dropping to 26% in 2016-17 and 13-14% (excluding IGST) in the period post-GST implementation.
"Customs duty and law is no longer viewed as a source of revenue but meant to subserve other objectives," he said.
Growth in taxes, particularly GST, has been buoyant with collections for November remaining above Rs 1.4 lakh crore for the ninth straight month.
The department has achieved a balance between enforcement and trade facilitation, which is seen from the drop in overall release time of cargo, he said.
New Generational Challenges
In a first, the department seized cryptocurrency recently as it was used as a means of part-payment for smuggled goods, Johri said.
"The core of Customs Act is intact and it has the ability to assimilate changes technological, social and legal challenges...," he said.
Payments made through cryptocurrency, undervalution, trade-based money laundering, and newer technology challenges like e-commerce—its role in international trade—and the 3D printing phenomenon continue to be challenges faced by the customs department, he said.
Also present at the event were Union Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary and Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra.
Sitharaman called for maximum alertness in drug-related seizures. "If gold (smuggling) will hurt the economy, drugs will hurt generations. We cannot afford it," she said.
The finance minister instructed customs teams to be on high alert, and follow up cases to their logical conclusion via timely prosecution.
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