Govt considering unified authority for safeguards

NEW DELHI: In a bid to streamline safeguard mechanism to check undue surge in imports, the government proposes to put in place a unified system armed with power to impose both tariff and non-tariff measures.
Commerce and Industry Minister Arun Jaitley held detailed discussions on this issue with Finance Minister Jaswant Singh here on Monday.
While tariff measures are presently imposed by the Customs which comes under the Revenue Department, the proposed non-tariff measures in the form of temporary quantitative restrictions is to be vested with the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, under the Commerce Ministry.
As this is likely to result in duality of control, resulting in coordination problems, the government is now working on some sort of a common authority which would be able to oversee imposition of both tariff and non-tariff safeguard measures, official sources told PTI here.
However, no final decision has been taken in Monday’s meeting.
The government has been considering an amendment to the Foreign Trade and Development Regulation Act to provide an enabling provision for imposition of temporary quantitative restrictions.
The proposal was approved by the Cabinet and later referred to a parliamentary standing committee. Sources said that the committee has submitted its report favouring the move. The report is now expected to be tabled before the Cabinet.