New Delhi - India is working on an advance cargo information system on the lines of the advance passenger information system put in place by the US after 9/11 that will allow immediate customs clearance of imports with scrutiny limited to a risk-based assessment of shipments.

Such a system would allow customs authorities to know beforehand the contents and arrival time of cargo. The information can then be used to pre-clear the consignments or keep them for further checks based on the contents and the information thrown up by the risk-assessment system.

Various agencies that are involved in vetting import cargo such as plant quarantine can also carry out their checks on the basis of data.

A pilot to test pre-arrival cargo data exchange is already on with the Maldives and discussions are now on with countries including South Korea to expand this system. New Delhi has already inked an agreement for the pre-arrival exchange of country-of-origin certificates with South Korea.

'Pre-arrival data exchange is being examined,' a Senior Government official said recently.

Such an exchange could become part of future trade agreement talks.

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs is working on the initiative as part of customs facilitation to further improve the ease of doing business in the country. Pre-arrival data exchange could form part of a future revamp of the country's customs framework to boost trade facilitation.

Such a system is expected to not just aid expeditious identification and tracking of suspicious goods but also come in handy in verification of country-of-origin certificates with countries with whom India has a trade agreement.