National Time Release Study | 07 Aug 2019
India’s first national Time Release Study (TRS) is being conducted by the Ministry of Finance as part of its strategic commitment to improve global trade.
- Time Release Study exercise will be conducted every year across 15 ports including sea, air, land and dry ports.
- The national TRS will establish baseline performance measurement and have standardized operations and procedures across all ports.
- TRS initiative for accountable governance, will measure rule-based and procedural bottlenecks (including physical touchpoints) in the clearance of goods, from the time of arrival until the physical release of cargo.
- The TRS is an internationally recognized tool advocated by the World Customs Organization to measure the efficiency and effectiveness of international trade flows.
- Objective: Identify and address bottlenecks in the trade flow process and take the corresponding policy and operational measures required to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of border procedures, without compromising efficient trade control.
- Expected beneficiaries: Will be export-oriented industries and Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) who will enjoy greater standardization of Indian processes with comparable international standards.
- Significance: TRS initiative will help in improving the Ease of Doing Business (EODB), particularly on the trading across borders indicator which measures the efficiency of the cross border trade ecosystem.