Kathmandu: Nepal National One Door System has come into operation from today with the objective of completing all the paperwork of the customs without the physical presence of the service recipients.
The plan, which was put forward as a concept in 2013, has been implemented after 9 years. At the same time, the customs department has claimed that the era of paperwork is over.
Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Poudel inaugurated the system on the occasion of the 69th International Customs Day on Tuesday. Minister Poudel said that the customs administration of Nepal is of international standard after the implementation of the national one-door system.
The services of the Department of Food Technology and Quality Control, Plant Quarantine and Pesticide Management Center and the Department of Animal Services, which will be connected to the customs process from Tuesday, have started through one-door system.
According to the One Door System Project Implementation Unit, the services required by the service recipients from the customs department including those three bodies will now be available online at home. In the system, all the information and services related to international trade and transit will be available to the entrepreneurs online. Earlier, service recipients had to go to about a dozen government agencies along with the customs department for licenses, permits and other certificates.
More than 40 private and other entities, including intergovernmental, linked to international trade, will be affiliated to the system by next summer. The government claims that the service received by the service recipients by including all their paperwork system at home will reduce the hassle of doing business.
Work on the Nepal-India Regional Trade and Transit Project was launched in July 2013 following a Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of Nepal and the World Bank.
The one-door system built by Web Fountain Dubai is also integrated with Asikoda World, an online customs system. President of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Shekhar Golchha says that the one-door system has added new impetus to entrepreneurs.
“Customs, which has adopted technology with the changing era, needs to be more organized,” said Chairman Golchha. He said that successful and systematic implementation of the system was necessary.
Rajesh Kaji Shrestha, president of the Nepal Chamber of Commerce, says that the one-door system will help solve existing problems. “The online system saves time and money for entrepreneurs. Strong implementation is challenging,” said Shrestha.
According to Bishnu Agrawal, vice-president of the Confederation of Nepalese Industries, it is important to improve customs administration after the one-door system. He said that the government should now focus on building and managing the customs infrastructure.