August 18: The government has prepared the ‘Sixth Customs Reform and Modernization Plan’ and started implementing it. Minister for Finance Janardan Sharma unveiled the plan amid a programme on August 17.

The plan has set five different targets including trade facilitation, realistic revenue collection, protection and security of the society, automated customs system and organizational development and capacity building.

Under trade facilitation, the country’s overseas trade will be made cost effective.  The revenue collection will be increased by amending and enforcing the customs law.

For the protection and security of the society, measures will be taken to monitor and control means of transportation to prevent illegal trade and movement of harmful goods in the country. Under the automated customs system, all the procedures of customs clearance will be automated by technology. 'Nepal Customs Automation System' has been implemented in 29 customs offices across the country.

The goal has been set to increase the competitiveness of the customs administration under organizational development and capacity building. The plan aims to increase organizational capacity to implement modern customs standards. The customs reform plan expects to get 15 results under this achievement.

These include trade facilitation, coordinated border management, voluntary compliance, development and expansion of national one-door system, improvement of physical infrastructure, strengthening of managerial capacity, national security, public health, economy, protection of intellectual property, protection of environment and society.

Similarly, the Sixth Customs Reform Plan expects coordination and communication among stakeholders, risk management, realistic revenue collection, expansion of automated systems, management of foreign trade data, promotion of ethics and good governance, implementation of policies and procedures for social security.

The customs administration has been implementing a customs reform plan since 2004.  Meanwhile, the Revenue Advisory Committee submitted its first annual report to Finance Minister Janarda recently.  The committee has also released a book containing various suggestions related to revenue from 2010 to 2021. 

Speaking on the occasion, Finance Minister Sharma said that the customs reform plan would be effective only when the service seekers benefit from it.   He mentioned that the Sixth Reform Plan would play an important role for making the customs administration more transparent.

Minister Sharma said that the suggestions given by the Revenue Advisory Committee would serve as an important reference for future policy making.