Extension of dates under FTP / FTA

Referring to our News Update in relation to measures under discussion with Commerce Ministry on account of COVID-19 pandemic, Director General of Foreign Trade has issued various Notifications, Trade Notices and Public Notices to address relief / extension of validity of various schemes and applicability of Foreign Trade Policy beyond 31 March 2020.

Please find below a detailed update on the extensions / reliefs for your quick reference:

Notification No. 57/2015-20 dated 31 March 2020 and Public Notice Number 67/2015-20 dated 31 March 2020: 

• The Foreign Trade Policy 2015-2020 (FTP) and the Hand book of Procedure 2015-2020 (HBP) has been extended FROM 31 March 2020 TO 31 March 2021.
• The extension by implication means continuation of all schemes in the FTP like MEIS (except for Garment and Made-ups which are eligible for RoSCTL/RoDTEP  benefit), Advance Authorisation, DFIA , EPCG, EOU, Deemed Export etc. till 31 March 2021.
• SEIS benefit: rates of benefit for 2019-2020 will be notified separately and decision on continuation of scheme for services rendered beyond 1 April 2020 will be notified separately.
• DFIA/ EPCG/ Advance Authorisations/ authorization in respect of Gem & Jewellery : where validity of authorization is expiring between 1 Feb to 31 July 2020, the period of validity is automatically extended by six months from the date of expiry;
• Exemption from payment of IGST (Integrated Goods and Service Tax) and Compensation Cess on the imports made under advance / EPCG authorisations and by EOUs, etc, has been extended up to 31 March 2021;
• Applicability of import of un-shredded scrap at designation ports without Radiation Portal Monitors and Container Scanner extended till 30 September 2020;
• MEIS shipment with Let Export Order (LEO) date falling between 1 Feb -31 May 2019, the applications can be filed within 15 months as against the normal time limit of 12 months from LEO date;
• SEIS application for FY 2018-19: last date for filing application is extended till 31 December 2020;
• LOP/LOI issued to EOU/EHTP/STP/BTP expiring on or after 1 March 2020 are deemed to be valid till 31 December 2020
• TED / Drawback (in case of deemed export) : Where dates fall after 1 March 2020, date of filing applications extended upto 30 September 2020;
• TMA Application: For quarter ending 31 March 2019, last date for filing application extended from 30 June 2020 to 30 September 2020;
• TMA Validity: Extended til 31 March 2021 as provided under Notification No. 17/3/2018-EP (Agri. IV) dated 17 March 2020;
• Late cut for applications filed for receiving benefit under FTP shall be considered as extended dates as mentioned in Public Notice no. 67/2015-20 (i.e. dates given this update);
• The validity of all Status Holder certificates extended till 30 June 2020;

Trade Notice No. 60/2019-20 dated 31 March 2020:

It has been decided by the Regional Authorities (RAs), DGFT will not insist RCMC in case where the same has been expired on before 31 March 2020, for any incentive / Authorisations till 30 September 2020. Export Promotion Councils (EPCs) will collect Application fees for the year 2020-21 on restoration of normalcy.

Trade Notice No. 59/2019-20 dated 28 March 2020:

On Account of Lockdown, Indian Agencies authorised to issue certificate of origin under India’s Free Trade Agreements (FTA), Comprehensive Economic Operations Agreements (CECA), Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) are temporarily closed and unable to issue the Certificate of Origin. In view of such exceptional circumstances, the certificates would be issued retrospectively by the concerned Indian agencies after open their offices. Also, India would stand ready to honour its preferential trade agreement import subject to the respective governments making formal request or putting up a notice in this regard.

Notification No. 58/2015-20 dated 31 March 2020:

One time relaxation is provided through extension of validity to 135 days of the automatic registration number generated under Steel Import Monitoring System (SIMS) till 31 March 2020.

You may refer detailed guidelines and Amendment in the linked Notification / Public Notice / Trade Notices. Please do not consider this update as an opinion and we shall advise you to look into your actual deadlines on case to case basis to identify and follow the revised/new applicable deadline.

We shall keep you posted on the further updates on the subject.

Feel free to connect if you require any additional information / clarification in this regard.

Happy to serve!!