Exporters discuss Negative List for BITA
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From left: Mr. V. K.Gupta, Jt DGFT, Ludhiana; Mr. A.K.Mehra, Commissioner (Customs and Central Excise), Ludhiana; Mr. Sandeep Jain, ED, Oswal Woolen Mills; Mr. Raj Gopal Sharma, Dy. Secretary, MoC; Mr. Rajan S.Ratna, Director, MoC; Mr. Satish Dhanda, MC Member, FIEO and Mr. Ashish Jain, Deputy Director, FIEO. |
The negotiations for India-EU Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement (BITA), which commenced in June this year, are expected to be concluded by the end of 2008. India is expected to commit to a zero-duty regime on substantially all imports from the EU, and similarly, all EU Member States are expected to commit to zero-duty regime on substantially all imports from India. Under the proposed Agreement, both sides would work out a list of products to be excluded from the tariff elimination commitments. Such excluded items, popularly called Negative List items, should exceed neither 10% of total tariff lines (i.e., 520 items of a total of 5200 items at 6-digit level) nor 10% of the total imports from each side.
The recommended negative list comprises of 402 tariff lines, out of which 156 tariff lines are under agriculture and 246 tariff lines are from the non-agriculture sector. The total trade coverage in the recommended list is 9% of the total imports from EU27 in the year 2005-06 and 8.7% of the average imports from EU27 between 2003-04 and 2005-06 (based on DGC&IS statistics). There are 49 chapters in the list with maximum tariff lines covered in chapter 84, i.e., machinery and mechanical appliances (66) followed by rubber and articles thereof.
In order to identify the negative list items, Department of Commerce commissioned a study through UNCTAD-India. FIEO organized a meeting with the stakeholders at Ludhiana on 20th November in association with Department of Commerce and Jt DGFT, Ludhiana to discuss the recommended negative list.
While initiating the discussion, Mr. Raj Gopal Sharma, Dy. Secretary, Ministry of Commerce informed that with this agreement Indian exporters would have preferential access to the market in 27 EU countries.
Mr. Rajan S. Ratna, Director, Ministry of Commerce said that the Ministry was seeking feedback from the industry on the negative list of products and similar meetings would be organized in other cities also for the purpose.
Mr. Satish Dhanda, FIEO Managing Committee Member, observed that the success of any free trade agreement depended on compliance of Rules of Origin and thus exporters must strictly adhere to these Rules.
EU is India’s largest trading partner. EU provides a substantial market for India’s exports and it has always been an important supplier for India’s imports. EU accounts for about one fifth of India’s total trade (21.1 percent in 2006) whereas India contributes about 1.5 percent of the total EU trade and is its 10th largest trading partner. India’s top 5 exports to the EU for the year 2006-07 were textiles & clothing, mineral fuels & mineral oils, gems & jewellery, iron & steel and organic chemicals. On the other hand, India’s top 5 imports from the EU for the same year consisted mainly of machinery and mechanical appliances, gems & jewellery, electrical machinery and parts, iron and steel and optical & medical instruments.
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In the last few years, trade between India and EU has shown impressive growth. For 2006-07 (April to December), India’s exports to the EU stood at $19.2 billion whereas India’s imports from EU amounted to $20.1 billion. India’s exports to the EU increased from $18.2 billion in 2004-05 to $23.3 billion in 2005-06, registering a growth of 27.3 percent. On the other hand, India’s imports from the EU also increased to $26 billion in 2005-06 from $19.3 billion in 2004-05, recording a growth of 34.7 percent. The composition of |
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View of the participants. |
India’s top imports from the EU in the last five years, however, has not changed except for a large increase in the imports of manufactured products.
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Golden Opportunity for Service Providers to Participate in FITUR 2008
FEDERATION OF INDIAN EXPORT ORGANISATIONS
Invites SERVICE PROVIDERS in Tourism Sector to participate in
FITUR 2008
MADRID, SPAIN
(30th January to 3rd February, 2008)
Limited space available with FIEO on first-come-first-served basis
Apply Immediately
For participation, please contact: SERVICES DIVISION, Federation of Indian Export Organisations Mr. Sandeep Gupta, Director M- 9312610594/Mr. Vinod Pal, Jt. Director, M-9818610918 Niryat Bhawan, Rao Tula Ram Marg, Opp. Army Hospital, R & R, New Delhi-110 057 Tel: 011-46042116, 46042119, 26150116/26150119, Fax: 011-26148194 Mobile: 9312610594; 9818610918; E-mail: sgupta@fieo.org; vinodpal@fieo.org Website: www.fieo.org |
