The Hindu Business Line : Assocham wants standard format for 'Rules of Origin'

THE Government should not relent under any pressure from Asean countries to dilute Rules of Origin that India has already framed before signing the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) with Singapore as such a compromise will adversely impact India's free trade agreement (FTA) with Asean vis-à-vis other regional groupings such as BIMSTEC and SAFTA, feels the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham).

In a paper on `India Asean Rules of Origin: an Industry Perception' prepared by Assocham which has already been submitted to the Commerce and Industry Ministry, it has been suggested that India should have a standard format of uniform ROOs that should be applied to all its future trade partners, either regional or bilateral, with whom the Government wishes to enter into preferential agreement and FTA.

Releasing the paper, the Assocham President, Mr Mahendra K. Sanghi said, "If the ROOs with Asean are relaxed, it would adversely impact on the ROOs for the Indo-Thai FTA, India-Singapore CECA and may have cascading effects for proposed SAFTA and BIMSTEC agreements."

The ROOs for Asean, therefore, have to be identical and that no preferential treatment needs to be reserved for a particular country, the Assocham chief felt.

The chamber also believes that globalisation and trade policy reforms must go hand-in-hand with domestic reforms. At the top are administrative and legal reforms, and reforms at the level of state governments.

Within the Indian economy there are considerable barriers to efficiency and competitiveness, and to make FTAs effective the Government should ensure necessary domestic reforms.

Infrastructure reforms, especially in energy (including electricity) should be completed at the earliest. Labour reform will allow the industry to get rid of excess labour without political or legal interference. India is at a stage of transformation where it is vital for it to build its core competencies to establish a strong foundation of skill development, the chamber said.

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