India's Customs Overhaul: 10 Changes That Could Reshape Trade

What the New Law Would Change

The first principle: commercial disputes should be settled by adjudication, not confiscation. Under the current statute, any omission that renders goods liable to confiscation triggers the same provisions applied to smugglers. The proposed fix is to make trade facilitation the norm and enforcement the exception.

Second, enforcement should shift from search-and-seizure to document-based inquiry. Authorities can summon invoices, contracts and technical literature instead of building cases on self-incriminating statements. The authors call intrusive enforcement in technical cases a source of avoidable litigation, not revenue.

Third, baggage rules at airports should be deleted. Checkpoints there earn negligible revenue, the authors argue, while creating a