India supports SEZ-exporters to soften hardship
Update 2: Department of Commerce has provided a number of Relaxations /Extensions of various
Compliance Deadlines etc to address Corona Pandemic Related Hardships of Exporters!
Facilitation for Special Economic Zone (SEZ) units:
In respect of SEZ Developers/Co- developers/ Units relaxations have been allowed on following compliances:
a) Requirement to file Quarterly Progress Report (QPR) attested by Independent Chartered Engineers by Developers/ Co‐developers.
b) SOFTEX form to be filed by IT/ITES units
c) Filing of Annual Performance Reports (APR) by SEZ units.
Development Commissioners have been directed to facilitate all extensions of Letter of Approvals (LoAs) and other compliances through electronic mode in a time‐bound manner. In the cases where it is not possible to grant extension through electronic mode or in cases where a physical meeting is required, Development.
Commissioners shall ensure that the Developer / Co‐developer / Units do not face any hardship due to such expiry of validity during this period of disruption, and ad‐hoc interim extension / deferment of the expiry date may be granted without prejudice till 30.06.2020 or further instructions of the Department on the matter, whichever is earlier. Such extensions will cover following type of cases:
a. Developers/co‐developers who are in the process of developing and operationalizing the SEZS
b. Units which are likely to complete their 5 year block for NFE assessment
c. Units which are yet to commence operations.
Similarly, in case of expiry of LOPs of Export Oriented Units (EOU)s also, DCs have been directed to ensure that there is no hardship to EOUs during the lockdown period and if possible, all extension of LOPs may be facilitated through electronic mode in time bound manner.
Where it is not possible to grant extension through electronic mode or such cases where physical meeting is required, in such cases expiry of validity of EOUs may be deferred suitably till 30th June, 2020. Such extensions will cover following type of cases:
a) Letter of Permission (LoP) of existing EOUs whose five period for calculation of NFE is completed during the lockdown period.
b) LoP of EOUs whose validity is expiring during the lockdown period.
Along with IT/ITES Units, Non IT/ITES Units in SEZs have also been allowed to take desktop/laptop outside SEZs for work from home. Power has been delegated to Development Commissioners for broad banding in case of manufacturing of essential items like masks, sanitizer, gowns and other protective preventive products/instruments subject to post-facto ratification by UAC.
All DCs have been sensitized to adopt electronic working culture and to extend support to the units involved in manufacturing of drugs, essential items etc and to follow COVID guidelines. Department, in coordination with Development Commissioners is monitoring the situation on a daily basis. As on date, 403 units, engaged in manufacture of essential supplies like drugs, pharmaceuticals, medical supplies, etc. are functioning. In addition to this, 2055 units engaged in IT/ITES and other sectors have been allowed to work-from-home.
Facilitation by ECGC:
i: Time for filing returns like declarations, extension applications, report of default etc., under the insurance covers that are due in March and April, extended up to May 31, 2020.
ii: Time for filing claim/ replies due during this period extended up to 30th June, 2020.
iii: Waiver of credit limit application fee till 30th June, 2020.
iv: Reduction in policy proposal processing fee by 50% for policies due for renewal / issue from 1st March till 30th June, 2020.
v: Discretion to exporters to extend due date for payment by buyers for shipments accepted earlier.
vi: Discretion to decide about shipments (i.e. resale / reimport / or abandon) that reached destination but not cleared by overseas buyers due to lockdown in the destination countries.
vii: Claim eligibility period under insurance cover reduced from the present 4 months period to 1 month.
Measures taken by department to facilitate
Preferential exports in the Covid-19 Pandemic:
In the wake of the lockdown, the agencies authorized to issue the certificates of origin for India’s preferential exports under the free trade agreement (FTAs) are either not functional or are operating with a skeletal staff. In the light of this, Department of Commerce had included some specific FTAs on this digital platform which had facilitated online application by exporters for these certificates.
Trade Notice 1 dated 7.4.2020 has added India’s main FTAs namely those with ASEAN, Japan, SAARC countries and Asia Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA) onto this digital platform. A related Trade Notice 62 dated 6.4.2020 has asked the agencies to issue the digitally signed certificates to the exporters on this platform as also keep a uniform fee for certificates even if they are issued retrospectively.
The platform issues digitally signed certificates and we have been successful in getting the trading partners to accept these digitally signed certificates. This would ensure that our preferential exports are facilitated even during this lockdown period.
Most of the exporters to the European Union (EU) avail of the EU Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) Scheme wherein they get tariff preferences on exports.
While the EU GSP is on a self-certification basis, the exporters have to apply to the prescribed agencies in India for getting a REX (registered exporter) number. In view of the closure of the offices of these agencies, Trade Notice 61 dated 2.4.2020 has prescribed the acceptance of scanned documents for getting the REX number so that the exporter has no physical interface with the agencies.
This would ensure that exporters to EU under the EU GSP who have not got the REX number can apply electronically to the agencies (also known as Local Administrators for registration)
Facilitation by the Director General Trade remedies (DGTR):
Submission of documents in the Trade remedies investigation process has been done online or through digital transmission without having to submit physical copies. This has been enabled for both new investigations and ongoing investigations. Also the hearings and consultations are being carried out through Video conferencing.
