Cont’d. from Pg. 3

Focus of the webinar was on various initiatives and trade facilitation measures of Customs with future plans of DG Systems on ICEGATE /ICES. Also present at this meeting were Mr. Akhilesh Pandey, Commissioner of Customs -Mumbai; Mr Piyush Bhardwaj, Addl. Dir. - Systems; Mr Abhinav Gupta, Addl. Director General – ICEGATE, other 

Sr. Officers, Mr Shankar Shinde, Chairman; 

Mr Dushyant Mulani, Chairman Elect; other Office Bearers and members of FFFAI.  

Welcoming Mr Baruah the FFFAI Chairman congratulated Customs and DG Systems for successful implementation of the DG Systems' various projects towards the goal of Trade Facilitation and Ease of Doing Business and strengthening SWIFT for seamless movement. However the systems need more integration 

to make it effective with accountability on time line monitoring basis.

In his address to the trade Mr Baruah focused on certain recent issues which were submitted  by FFFAI after taking feedback from its 28 Member Associations. The issues are mentioned below:

• Implementing robust system with IT infrastructure to reduce downtime.

• Helpdesk support system for effective communication and resolving issues.

• Auto Amendment’s process for advanced filed B/E aligning with IGM for faster clearances.

• To build confidence of trade by self-declaration process for safety on dangerous goods.

• Prioritising Perishable /Liquid Bulk / Reefer / Lifesaving equipments under faceless regime

• Shipments are getting delayed & incurring demurrage and detentions. 

FFFAI was happy to welcome Mr Baruah at the FFFAI Office/Head Qtrs. in Mumbai for further discussions with FFFAI Office Bearers & Executive committee members with participation from senior members including 

28 Member Associations from across India.

Mr. Baruah’s visit to FFFAI was to explore the partnership with FFFAI /IIFF ( A Training wing of FFFAI)  utilising the expert  domain knowledge on Customs Clearance & Logistics industry multimodal connectivity  to proliferate and impart knowledge into North East region which is unexplored and Geo Strategic position for boosting Indian economy in Export Import trade.  

In this meeting Mr Shinde elaborated on the genesis and aims & objectives of FFFAI and its 60 years’ contribution to the Indian economy. He also shared some challenging issues predominantly pertaining to Faceless B/E Assessment, monitoring systems and Gateway EGM errors affecting the post shipment exports benefits, DGFT Licenses online updates due to the error in the ICEGATE System seeking post amendment online transmission.

According to Mr Mulani, supported by the DG Systems the trust-based environment should be created and disputes can be mitigated in a time-bound manner. In his opinion, the 1st phase of the Faceless Assessment supported by ICEGATE System is over and now the second phase should focus on accountability and time limit for B/E assessment and clearance.

Mr Baruah gave a patient hearing to all recommendations from FFFAI and assured an early redressal. He also emphasised on enhancement of knowledge and skill development of the CB & exim trade community. Commending the efforts of FFFAI in this regard through its training arm IIFF he suggested reaching out to new and potential areas to skill the logistics professionals. Especially he suggested FFFAI to focus more on the emerging North East region of India from increasing the exim trade’s perspective

He further highlighted the huge multimodal logistics infrastructure being developed by the Government of India in the North east region of the country. In his opinion, coupled with skilled manpower this region can be a potential hub for the international trade between India and ASEAN countries as well as Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal.