- Department of Revenue under Union Ministry of Finance is conducting India’s 1st National Time Release Study(TRS).The exercise is being conducted as a part of its strategic commitment to improve global trade.
- The exercise will be conducted at the same time across 15 ports including sea,air,land and dry ports which cumulatively account for 81% of total Bills of Entries for import and 67% of Shipping Bills for export filed within India.
- This initiative will also help India in improving its Ease of Doing Business ranking on the Trading Across Borders indicator.In 2018,India’s ranking on the indicator improved from 146 to 80.
- TRS is an internationally recognized tool advocated by Brussels based World Customs Organization(WCO) to measure efficiency and effectiveness of international trade flows.
- TRS is an initiative for accountable governance that will measure rule based and procedural bottlenecks including physical touchpoints in clearance of goods from time of arrival until physical release of cargo.
- It also aims to identify and address bottlenecks in trade flow process.It will also take corresponding policy and operational measures required to improve effectiveness and efficiency of border procedures without compromising efficient trade control.
