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The Central Board for Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) is looking at reducing average release time for consignments to one hour by 2047, while focusing on the three most important aspects of trade facilitation, which are regulatory framework, technology and infrastructure, CBIC chairman Vivek Johri said on Friday.

During his inaugural address at the CII national conference on trade facilitation, Johri said that WTO's trade facilitation agreement has provided a great thrust to improving the trading across borders environment in India.

He informed that 80 per cent to 100 per cent consignments are already meeting the release time targets envisioned under the action plan.

The CBIC is also looking at mutual recognition agreements (MRAs) for enhancing effectiveness of the AEO programme and will be working on self-certification of origin which is a major expectation from all stakeholders.

He also mentioned that CBIC is working on the challenges and opportunities arising from e-commerce.

Johri further said that trade facilitation has trickled down in government and is yet to trickle up in the private sector.

Rajiv Talwar, Member (Customs), CBIC, while addressing the session on streamlining and expediting clearances, said that all the participants of the ecosystem, including importers and exporters, port authorities and regulatory bodies, among others, must understand their role in operations and strive to achieve it effectively.

He also emphasised on the importance of the Authorised Economic Operator (AEO) programme which has helped in significant reduction in dwell time in both seaports and air cargo complexes.