India eases customs restrictions for F1
Customs constraints were a significant concern for F1 teams when they traveled to India. To encourage a return to the calendar, the authorities have decided not to subject the teams' equipment to such constraints anymore.
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade has thus revealed that it will no longer apply customs barriers for entry into the country for cars and motorcycles participating in a race on Indian soil.
This can only delight the leaders of the Buddh circuit, who are actively preparing for the return of their circuit to the calendar. Indeed, they were forced to make a security deposit amounting to more than 4.7 million euros to allow all the goods brought by the teams to be brought in. Of this amount, nearly 950,000 euros were levied by the local authorities since the Ministry of Sports refused to recognize that F1 was a sporting event.
Moreover, the organizers had a lot of trouble recovering the balance of their deposit, as revealed to the local newspaper Times of India by a source close to the organizers: « We were never reimbursed on time. A sum of 3.8 million euros was not negligible and we only received it after six months. The sum we deposited last year still hasn’t been refunded. »
In the rest of the world, the custom is that cargo planes carrying the teams’ equipment can land in special areas of airports, where the teams’ equipment is directly transported to the circuits. The cars are then assembled there before being dismantled after the event and transported to the special area of the airport.
For the outgoing president of the Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (FMSCI), Vicky Chandhok, this decision will allow the country to attract more world-class competitions: « On behalf of the FMSCI, I welcome this decision to amend the import guidelines for cars and motorcycles for motor racing. This will allow India to host many more international events. Although we are positive about this change, we would like rally vehicles to be included as well. »
Indeed, the new directives prohibit these vehicles from circulating on public roads. This therefore excludes both rally vehicles and demonstrations conducted by teams outside the circuit…
With the participation of www.Racingbusiness.fr
