Government of India
Ministry of Commerce and Industry
Department of Commerce
Directorate General of Foreign Trade

Trade Notice No. 30/2020-2021-DGFT

Dated: 13.10.2020 Udyog Bhawan, New Delhi

To,

1. All Exporters/Members of Trade
2. All Designated Issuing Agencies under FTAs/PTAs

Subject: Electronic filing and Issuance of Preferential Certificate of Origin (CoO) for India’s Exports under GSP, GSTP, India-Malaysia CECA, India-Singapore CECA w.e.f. 15th October 2020

In continuation to the earlier Trade Notice(s) 34/2015-2020 dated 19.09.2019, 41/2019­-2020 dated 12.12.2019, 53/2019-2020 dated 02.03.2020 and 01/2020-2021 dated 07.04.2020, it is informed that the electronic platform for Preferential Certificate of Origin(CoO) is being expanded to add four more FTAs/PTAs to facilitate electronic application of CoOs.

2. This given e-platform has been designed as a single-point access for al FTAs/PTAs, all designated Certificate of Origin (CoO) issuing agencies and for all export products, and is accessible at the URL: https://coo.dgft.gov.in . It may be noted that the CoO for exports from India under following FTAs/PTAs are already being applied and issued through the e-platform.

3. To further this trade facilitation initiative, the Preferential Certificate of Origin for exports to various other countries under the following four trade agreements shall also be applied and issued from the CoO e-platform with effect from 15th October 2020.

The given CoO applications for exports from India under GSTP, IMCECA and ISCECA should be submitted through the e-COO platform to the designated issuing agencies. (May please refer to Appendix 2B of the Foreign Trade Policy for details of the designated issuing agencies). No manual application for such a CoO should be submitted to an issuing agency after 15th October 2020. Any manual applications submitted prior to the given date may however be processed by the issuing agencies.

5. CoO applications for exports under GSP may also be submitted through e-CoO platform w.e.f. 15th October 2020. However, the earlier procedure of submitting the manual CoO applications (under GSP) physically to the designated issuing agency shall also be in operation. There shall be a transition period of 3 months when both the online and the physical process shall be operated. Manual submission of GSP CoO applications is accordingly allowed to continue up to 14.01.2021 or until further orders.

6. It is informed that for the applications under the above mentioned FTAs/PTAs, the e-CoO system shall generate all the existing set of CoO copies along with an additional copy i.e. electronic copy. The electronic copy shall bear the image signature of the officer and stamp of the issuing agency. The exporter may however get the remaining copies duly ink-signed by the issuing officer with the stamp from the designated issuing office. The copies of the CoOs so issued may be collected by post or in person, for any submission to the FTAs/PTAs partner countries authorities.

7. The concerned Exporters may please take note of the following additional points with regard to the process being notified herewith:
a. Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) would be required for the purpose of electronic verification. The digital signature would be the same as used in other DGFT applications;
b. The digital signature may be Class II or Class III and should have the IEC of the firm embedded in the DSC;
c. Any new applicant exporter would be required to initially register at the e-platform. The password would be sent on the email and mobile number of the IEC holder. In case the IEC holder desires to update their email on which communication is to be sent, the same may be done by using the ‘IEC profile Management’ service on the DGFT website https://dgft.gov.in
d. Once registration is completed, the IEC branch details would be auto-populated as per the DGFT-IEC database. Applicant is required to ensure that updated IEC details are available in the DGFT system. Necessary steps may be taken to modify the IEC details online, whenever required.

8. For further guidance on registration and application submission, the Help manual & FAQs may be accessed on the landing page at https://coo.dgft.gov.in . For any further assistance you may utilize any of the following channels —
i. Raise a service request/suggestion ticket through the DGFT Helpdesk service link on the e-platform home page
ii. Call the toll-free Helpline number 1800-111-550
iii. Send an email to [email protected]
This issues with the approval of the competent authority.

(Issued from File No. 01/02/82/AM-19/EDI)

(Md. Moin Afaque)
Deputy Director General of Foreign Trade