The five-year Foreign Trade Policy (2015-2020) valid till 31.003.2020 was extended as the Government announced that the new policy would be deferred by one whole year because of the upheavals caused by “unprecedented” Covid-19 pandemic.  Since 2021 the policy has been deferred every six months   Again, Upon requests received from Export Promotion Councils and leading exporters to continue with the current Foreign Trade Policy (2015-20), the Government extended the  current FTP (2015-20)  for another 6 months i.e. till March 2023.

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The announcement of much eagerly awaited new Foreign Trade Policy expected on 31st March 2022 again got delayed and the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), office vide Notification 64/2015-2020 dt. 31/03/2022  has again extended the existing FTP by another six months i.e. till 30 September 2022, although the new Foreign Trade Policy was expected to unveil some major changes in the current policies which will be more compliant with World Trade Organization rules.    Another reason behind this extension might be to ensure policy continuity in foreign trade amid disruptions in global trade due to the month-long Russia-Ukraine crisis.

Further, in continuation of the same, the DGFT has  issued another Notification No. 66/2015-20 dated 1st  April, 2022 that the scheme for exemption of Integrated Good and Service Tax (IGST) and Compensation cess  under Advance Authorisation, EPCG and EOU (as per Para 4.14, Para 5.01(a) and Para 6.01(d)(ii) of the Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20)  is extended only up to 30.06.2022.

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Extension of Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20 for ONE more year

After keeping the exporters and importers in uncertainty for the past week,  DGFT has announced the extension of Foreign Trade Policy for 1 more year, just before the close of the licensing year. Most of the validity of licenses and filing dates have been extended by 3 months to a year.

The extension is particularly significant because the popular scheme of MEIS and EPCG, which were under the axe, following WTO decision is also extended. This gives a huge relief to bewildered Exporters who were facing a double whammy. Whether this alone helps exporters to overcome the massive upcoming recession in the markets abroad, needs to be monitored.

Notification 57 dated 31st March 2020 and Public Notice 67 dated 31st March, 2020 can be referred in this regard.

Following are the major effects of the move:

1. Extension of Validity of RCMC that are expired on or before 31.03.2020 till 30.09.2020 as per Trade Notice no. 60 (2019-20), Date 31.03.2020.
2. Continuation of MEIS (till 31.12.2020), RoSCTL, SEIS, DFIA, EPCG, EOU, Deemed Export etc till 31st March 2021.  (However, for SEIS the rates for 2019-2020 and decision on continuation of the scheme for services rendered beyond 1st April 2020 will be notified separately).
3. For MEIS shipment with Let Export Order date falling between 1st Feb to 31st May 2019, the applications can be filed within 15 months as against the normal time limit of 12 months.
4. The last date for filing SEIS application for FY 2018-19 is now extended till 31.12.2020. There is no word on filing dates of SEIS application of earlier financial years with condonation.
5. For applications of TMA for the first quarter Apr 2019-June 2019, that was to be filed by 2nd June 2020, can now be filed till 30th Sept 2020.
6. Status Holder certificates extended till 31st March 2021.
7. For Advance Authorisation, where the validity of authorization or Export Obligation period is expiring between 1st Feb to 31st July 2020, the period of validity or Export Obligation is automatically extended by six months from the date of expiry.
8. For DFIA Authorisation, where the last date of filing is expiring between 1st Feb to 31st July 2020, the period of validity is automatically extended by six months from the date of expiry.
9. For EPCG Authorisation, where the validity of authorization or Export Obligation is expiring between 1st Feb to 31st July 2020, the period of validity/EO is automatically extended by six months from the date of expiry.
10. All LOP/LOI issued to EOU/EHTP/STP/BTP expiring on or after 1st March 2020 is deemed to be valid till 31.12.2020.
11. Applications for Deemed Export benefits can also be filed till 30.09.2020 in case the date falls on or after 1st March 2020.

Hope the above information is useful. For any difficulty/clarification, please write to us at info@andees.com.

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