New Delhi, Aug 16: India’s excise and customs department has adopted an “environment strategy” under which it aims to eliminate paper documentation, promote web-based external and internal communication and give special attention to environment related issues.
 Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Tuesday gave his approval to the Central Board of Excise and Customs proposal to adopt an environment friendly strategy in its day-to-day dealings.
 “It would change the way business is done by the customs, central excise and service tax officials,” finance ministry said in a statement.
 The new strategy of the department includes training of officers for monitoring international trade in environmentally sensitive goods, sensitising officers to enhanced detection of environmental violations and protecting protecting frontline officers from hazardous substances by providing radiation detection kits.
 The excise and customs department also plans to “dematerialise documents and eliminate paper documentation, promote web-based external and internal communication and develop and implement green standards for infrastructure”.
 “Besides contributing to a cleaner environment, decisions such as reducing documentation would serve the objective of trade facilitation by reducing transaction costs,” a finance ministry statement said. IANS

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