Government of India
Ministry of Commerce and Industry
Department of Commerce
Directorate General of Foreign Trade
Udyog Bhawan, New Delhi-110011

Trade Notice No. 49/2020-21

Dated: 30^th March, 2021

To,

1. All Advance Authorization Holders concerned

2. Members of Trade and Trade Associations

3. Regional Authorities (RAs) of DGFT

4. Other stakeholders of DGFT

Subject: Online Filing of requests for Closure of Advance Authorizations -reg

DGFT has revamped its IT systems to provide a paperless, contact-less, electronic interface to the exporters/importers and other stakeholders of DGFT. The new IT System amongst other improvements include process for managing the entire lifecycle of Advance Authorizations including its issuance, amendment and closure.

2. In this regard it is hereby informed that Authorisation Holders are required to make online submissions for fulfilment of Export Obligation to the DGFT Regional Authority(RA) as per Para 4.46 of Hand Book of Procedures 2015-20. The given facility may be utilized for Redemption, Surrender, Duty Paid Regularization, Bond Waiver or the Clubbing of Advance Authorizations. Authorization Holder can utilize the given facility by navigating online to DGFT Website → Services → Advance Authorization/DFIA → Closure of Advance Authorization.

3. The related documents shall be available for the perusal of the concerned applicant exporter under the DGFT Website → My Dashboard → Repositories → Bills Repositories. The EDI Shipping Bills/Bill of Entries are electronically and automatically fetched from the DGFT-Customs Electronic interface. e-BRCs as uploaded by the banks are also automatically available under the Bills Repositories.

4. The other related documents such as Non-EDI Shipping Bills, Non-EDI Bill of Entries, GST invoices, CA/CE/CS Certificates, TR Challans, BG/LUT which are not automatically available required to be uploaded by the applicants to their respective online repositories prior to preparing the online closure application.

5. The facility for on-boarding of certifying authorities such as CA/CE/CS and for them to digitally sign and submit certificates against the Exporter’s IEC electronically has also been provided. However, the Authorisation Holder has option to upload the CA/CE/CS Certificate directly to the specific Repository.

6. The Authorization holder may create a licence closure application by linking to the documents as already added to the Repositories. While the Shipping Bills/Bill of Entries would be automatically linked to the closure application, the other details as required, may be added to complete the application prior to submission. In case complete details of Shipping Bills/Bill of Entries are not visible in the application, applicant may navigate online to DGFT Website → My Dashboard → Repositories → Bills Repositories → Select type of bill and proceed with following actions:

i. add non-EDI shipping bills manually using “Add Non-EDI Shipping Bills” tab

ii. Wherever required, the applicant may search the EDI shipping bill in repository and update the export serial number under part E section in respective Shipping Bill to ensure that the Advance Authorization export item(s) to the shipping bill item(s) linkage is correlated correctly

iii. If Bill of Entry data is not automatically available, fetch Bill of Entry for EDI ports using “Get Bill of Entry from Customs” feature

iv. add non-EDI Bill of Entries manually using “Add Details” tab

v. Wherever required, the applicant may search the EDI Bill of Entry in repository and update the serial number in the respective Bill of Entry to ensure that the Advance Authorization input item(s) to the Bill of Entry item(s) linkage is correlated correctly

7. It may be noted that the following documents are required to be submitted physically to the Receipts counter at the RA –

i. TR Challan

ii. Bank Guarantee / Letter of Undertaking /Corporate Guarantee.

8. Ordinarily the RA would not call for any physical submission of the closure application or the supporting documents. However, in cases of genuine difficulty, physical documents can be submitted to RA with the approval of the Head of the RA. An online application with or without supporting documents is still required to be filed for such applications. Any subsequent communication, clarification, deficiency letter or redemption, needs to be issued through the online module.

9. Any physical documents submitted need to be recorded as a correspondence receipt in the online system by the RA and linked to the related online application.

10. For any help and guidance on this new process, the Help manual & FAQs may be accessed on the DGFT Website →Learn → ‘Application Help & FAQs’. For any further assistance, the following channels may be used –

i. Raise a service request/suggestion ticket through the DGFT Helpdesk service link

ii. under Services → ‘Complaints & Suggestions’

iii. Call the DGFT toll-free Helpline number

Send an email to [email protected]

11. All RAs of DGFT are requested to sensitize and handhold the trade community with regard to the above mentioned new process.

12. This issues with the approval of the Competent Authority.

(Issued from File No.: 01/94/180/018/AM21/PC-4)

Vijay Kumar
Additional Director General of Foreign Trade