DGFT Rules

The government on Monday imposed export ban on raw human hair if the prices are below USD 65 per kg, according to a notification. In January 2022, the government imposed restrictions on these exports. "The export policy of raw human hair is amended from restricted to prohibited. However, export shall be free if FOB (Free on Board) value is USD 65 or above per kilogram," the directorate general of foreign trade (DGFT) said in a notification. The decision was taken on the back of reports of smuggling of raw human hair to countries like Myanmar and China, which is hurting local industries and exports. In India, West Bengal is the major hub for the industry besides Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu. Major competitors of India are China, Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar. Raw human hair are mainly collected from households and temples of these states to primarily cater to the beauty market globally. Two types of hair are collected in India - remy and non-remy hair. Remy hair, the b

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), under the commerce ministry, has launched an upgraded system for issuance of electronically generated certificate of origin to help exporters, an official statement said on Monday. Certificate of origin is a key document required for exports to those countries with which India has trade agreements. An exporter has to submit the certificate at the landing port of the importing country. The document is important to claim duty concessions under free trade agreements. This certificate is essential to prove where the goods come from. The commerce ministry said this upgraded platform offers features such as multi-user access, which enables exporters to authorise multiple users under a single Importer Exporter Code (IEC). Additionally, the system now supports Aadhaar-based e-signing alongside digital signature tokens. "The DGFT has launched the enhanced Certificate of Origin (eCoO) 2.0 system, a significant upgrade designed to simplify the

The Commerce Ministry's arm DGFT on Monday updated the export policy for all products, specifying detailed conditions for each item to enhance the ease of doing business in the country. Earlier specific policy conditions were only outlined for goods which were subject to certain restrictions or fell under some norms. "Schedule-II (Export Policy)' in sync with Finance Act 2024 dated August 16, 2024, has been notified," the directorate general of foreign trade (DGFT) said in a notification. The updated schedule contains the current export policy of all ITC (HS) codes, along with specific policy conditions (if any) to be fulfilled, it added. An official said this would help in knowing policy conditions for all the products. In international trade parlance, every product is categorised under the Indian Trade Classification (Harmonised System) - ITC (HS). It helps in the systematic classification of goods across the globe.

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has made amendments to the Foreign Trade Policy to make consultations with stakeholders for their views on draft policies mandatory, an official statement said on Friday. The changes also provide the mechanism to inform reasons for not accepting views, suggestions, comments or feedback concerning the formulation or amendment of the Foreign Trade Policy, the commerce ministry said. "The DGFT on Thursday notified amendment in the Foreign Trade Policy, 2023, to include Para...to bring legal backing in the FTP to make it necessary to do consultation with stakeholders to seek views, suggestions, comments or feedback from relevant stakeholders, including importers/exporters/industry experts concerning the formulation or amendment of the FTP," it said. The key objective of the amendments is to encourage the participation of all stakeholders in the decision-making process before introducing or changing policy and procedures affecting the ...

The commerce ministry's arm DGFT has clarified that registration-cum-membership certificate is not mandatory for exporters to seek benefits under schemes like duty drawback and remission of state levies. According to the Foreign Trade Policy, a Registration-cum-Membership Certificate (RCMC) is required for exporters in order to avail benefits under the policy. Holding the certificate can also help exporters in availing benefits with respect to customs and excise. The certificate is issued by export promotion councils and commodity boards. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has said that schemes such as duty drawback, rebate of state and central taxes and levies (RoSCTL) and remission of duties and taxes on export products (RoDTEP) fall under the category of remission-based schemes. These schemes are aimed at remitting duties or taxes on exported goods. For these schemes, "the requirement of an RCMC does not apply. Exporters can claim benefits under these schemes witho

The government on Tuesday notified policy conditions for export of certain halal meat and its products and this will come into effect from October 16 this year. Notifying the conditions, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said specified meat and meat products will be allowed to be exported as halal certified to 15 countries, only if such goods are produced or processed and/or packaged in a facility certified under the 'India Conformity Assessment Scheme (I-CAS) - Halal' of the Quality Council of India (QCI). The 15 countries are Bahrain, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Malaysia, Jordan, Oman, the Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Turkey, and the UAE. After the shipments, the exporter will have to provide the valid certificate to the buyer in the importing country. "Policy conditions for export of specified halal meat and meat products are notified," the DGFT said. In April 2023, with the aim of streamlining the halal certification process for exp

On the outstanding EDPMS entry you can't do much except follow up with ICEGATE. But, I don't think your bank is correct in holding up your money

It appears the government intends to give GAEC for exports of SCOMET items only to the parties to whom you have already made some exports

The government on Friday exempted advance authorisation holders and export-oriented units (EOUs) from mandatory quality control orders for imported goods that are used as inputs for exports. It said that the exemption will be with pre-import conditions, and those inputs will be utilised in the manufacturing of the export products. "Enabling provisions are made for exempting inputs imported by Advance Authorisation holders and EOUs from mandatory Quality Control Orders (QCOs)," the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a notification. The unutilised material will be destroyed in the presence of jurisdictional GST/customs authorities, it added. Mandatory QCOs help curb the import of sub-standard products, prevent unfair trade practices and ensure the safety and well-being of consumers as well as the environment. QCOs are applicable for products domestically manufactured as well as imported. Every manufacturing unit in and outside India has to comply with these orders i

The commerce ministry has decided to extend export benefits under the RoDTEP scheme for companies in the special economic zones (SEZs) and export oriented units (EOUs). This decision was communicated to the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) on February 16. The DGFT may issue a formal notification soon amending the foreign trade policy on the same. "Post rolling out of ICEGATE (Indian Customs Electronic Data Interchange Gateway) in SEZs, the RoDTEP scheme may also be extended to SEZs," according to an office memorandum of the commerce ministry. The government in August 2021, announced the rates of tax refunds under export promotion scheme -- Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP), for 8,555 products such as marine goods, yarn and dairy items. As SEZs and EOUs were kept out of the scheme in the list notified that time, the industry was demanding to include them in the scheme. Under RoDTEP, various central and state duties, taxes, and levies imposed on in

The Commerce Ministry, which automated the process for issuance of exporter status certificates, is expected to issue about 20,000 such documents by the end of this year, a senior official said on Wednesday. Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) Santosh Kumar Sarangi said this would be a big jump in the issuance of these certificates, and so far, they have issued over 40,200 status-holder certificates. "There are another 2,000 applications, which are under scrutiny because of their prior history. But ultimately, those will also get issued, and by the end of this year, we expect about 20,000 status holders to be recognised through this automated process," he told reporters here. Last month, DGFT said that an exporter status certificate will now be issued based on the available electronic data, and traders will not have to apply to get the recognition. These certificates provide certain privileges, including simplified procedures under foreign trade policy (FTP), priority custom .

The government on Friday extended the time period for accreditation of halal certification bodies and registration of export units by six months till April 5, 2024. On April 6 this year, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) notified policy conditions for halal certification process for meat and meat products while directing the existing bodies to seek accreditation from National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB) for i-CAS (Indian Conformity Assessment Scheme) Halal in six months. "Time period for accreditation of halal certification bodies and registration of export units have been extended by a period of six months i.e., up to April 5, 2024," the DGFT said in a notification. DGFT is an arm of the ministry which deals with exports and import-related issues. As per the guidelines, meat and its products are allowed to be exported as 'halal certified' only if they are produced, processed and packaged in a facility having a valid certificate issued by a bo

Tweaking of licensing rules by the commerce ministry's arm DGFT for imports of certain IT hardware products like laptop and computers will help boost domestic manufacturing, think tank GTRI said on Friday. Grant of exception to laptops and tablets assembled in special economic zones (SEZs) from import restrictions would make a significant shift in India's electronics manufacturing landscape, Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) said. The government on Thursday tweaked the cumbersome licensing norms for import of these products and put in place an online authorisation system for importers. The new licensing or authorisation regime is primarily aimed at monitoring imports of these products to ensure that they are coming from trusted sources. These regulations are set to come into force on November 1 and are poised to reshape the industry until September 2024, it said. "Local suppliers now have two routes to procure laptops for the Indian market - they can buy laptops from firms .

This comes a month after the DGFT announced that the import of certain IT hardware products, including laptops, tablets, PCs, servers, etc., would fall under the restricted category

Section 4(1) of the Competition Act, 2002 says that no enterprise or group shall abuse its dominant position

The government on Monday simplified norms for exporters to avail benefits of an advance authorisation scheme under which free imports of input materials are allowed. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) implements this scheme under the Foreign Trade Policy. The eligibility of inputs is determined by sector-specific norms committees based on input-output norms. To make the norms fixation process more efficient, the DGFT said that it has created a user-friendly and searchable database of ad-hoc norms fixed in the previous years. These norms can be used by any exporter without approaching the norms committee, it added. The database is hosted on the DGFT website (https://dgft.gov.in) and allows users to search using export or import item descriptions, technical characteristics, or Indian tariff classification codes. "This trade facilitation measure simplifies the advance authorisation and norms fixation process, resulting in shorter turnaround times for exporters, improved

DGFT Policy Circular no. 11(RE-01)/2001-02 dated 1.10.2001 had clarified that the annual average exports should be maintained till the export obligation is completed

Apart from that, under the policy, e-commerce as export hubs (ECEH) will be set up through private initiative or in public-private partnership (PPP) mode, in partnership with the states or the Centre

The previous formula for composition fee was convoluted and difficult to understand, which made the process more tedious and strenuous for exporters

'The DGFT should also resolve the problem of exporters who have used the HSN Code as per Customs Tariff but have ticked the right box in the shipping bill to indicate their claim of RoDTEP benefits'