The Commerce and Industry Ministry has asked export promotion councils and other industry bodies to give specific inputs on measures to reduce regulatory compliances and streamline processes further and also share recommendations on decriminalisation, sources have said.

This is in line with the government’s stated policy of improving ease of doing business and working continuously to reduce compliance burden for a conducive business environment, a source tracking the matter told businessline.

“Inputs have been sought from export bodies on matters related to the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, Customs authorities, the RBI, the CBIC (Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs) and on the GST regime, sources tracking the matter told businessline.

Once the government receives inputs and processes them, the policies and the procedures will be modified accordingly, the source added.

“We are giving our suggestions on what processes can be further simplified. We are identifying areas where you can go for self-certification and where you can go for lesser documentation,” an official from an exporters’ body said.

Changes can also be made to the Foreign Trade Policy 2023 based on inputs as amending the policy is now a continuous process and not an annual one.

Key focus

The key focus of the government’s drive is simplification of procedures related to applications, renewals, inspections, filing records, etc; rationalisation by repealing, amending or subsuming redundant laws; digitisation by creating online interfaces eliminating manual forms and records; and decriminalisation of minor technical or procedural defaults, Minister of State for Commerce Som Prakash recently said in a Parliament reply.

DPIIT, the industry arm of the Commerce and Industry Ministry, started an exercise some time back to assess the cost of regulations in states to provide insight into reforms that can be carried out to improve the business climate. A number of obsolete provisions have already been removed or simplified by DPIIT.

“Exporter bodies and other industry players have also been asked to give inputs for decriminalisation of provisions to be incorporated in the second edition of the Jan Vishwas Bill that the government is working on,” the official said.

The Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2023 was passed in the Lok Sabha on June 27 and in the Rajya Sabha on August 2. The Bill sought to decriminalise about 180 minor offences in 42 legislations including some colonial era laws. 

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