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Contributed on May 19, 2020

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Covid-19: Representation to DGFT on extending the SCOMET Authorisation Period

Blog: NASSCOM Official Blog

On 19^th May 2020, NASSCOM submitted a representation to Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), with a request to extend the validity period of all export authorisation of items specified under Special Chemicals, Organism, Materials, Equipment and Technologies (SCOMET) expiring between March and June 2020 by four months (issued under Para 2.16 (a) (ii) of the Handbook of Procedures (HBP) of Foreign Trade Policy (2015-2021

Given the unprecedented challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, industry may find it difficult to meet the requirements of applying for revalidation of SCOMET authorisations expiring between March 2020 and June 2020 in the absence of such an extension. For instance, an Indian subsidiary of a foreign company may find it difficult to procure necessary documents/undertaking from their foreign parent company to apply for revalidation of SCOMET authorisations under Para 2.22 of the HBP. Therefore, we have requested Government to automatically extend the validity of SCOMET authorisations expiring during the aforementioned period by four months.

In our representation, we have also made reference to the Public Notice 67/2015-20 (dated 31^st March 2020) wherein the DGFT has extended the validity of the HBP till 31^st March 2021. The said Public Notice also provides for time-based extensions to the export obligation period in case of Advance and EPCG Authorisations, validity period of status certificates, and the dates of filing various applications and returns etc. In our representation, we have stated that there is a need for similar extension of the validity period of SCOMET authorisations (issued between March and June 2020) in order to further alleviate the challenges which the industry is facing due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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