Eduardo González
The Council of Ministers authorized this Tuesday Spain’s expression of consent to be bound by the Agreement between the Kingdom of Spain and the Government of the Republic of India on cooperation and mutual assistance in customs matters, as well as its subsequent submission to the Cortes Generales (Spanish Parliament).
Given the growing trade relations between India and Spain and the potential violations of their respective customs laws, the Spanish Department of Customs and Excise began negotiations in 2011 for an agreement on cooperation and mutual assistance in customs matters between the two countries.
This bilateral agreement strengthens relations between both customs administrations, in addition to the international multilateral conventions of 1961, 1971, and 1988 on narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances, and their illicit trafficking, the positions of the World Customs Organization, and the Agreement between India and the European Union on Cooperation and Mutual Assistance in Customs Matters, signed on April 28, 2004.
It will also allow for the introduction of cooperation modalities not included in the scope of the European Union agreement, such as the exchange of information on sensitive goods, controlled deliveries, and the exchange of officials.
The agreement regulates mutual assistance between the customs authorities of Spain and India, protecting economic, tax, social, commercial, and public health interests. It also addresses the need to ensure the enforcement of customs regulations through international cooperation, within the framework of conventional customs regulations in this area.
The agreement was signed on October 28 of last year by the President of the Government Pedro Sánchez and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Vadodara, coinciding with the first official visit by a Spanish Prime Minister to the Asian country since José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s visit in 2007.
