Registration of cotton export contracts: revalidation, limited reissuance and penalties applied for shortfalls beyond permitted tolerance.
Clarification requires registration of cotton and cotton yarn export contracts with DGFT and prescribes that RCs must be revalidated or may be cancelled under specified conditions; a -5% weight tolerance applies and surrenders or shortfalls beyond that tolerance are regularized by an administrative penalty plus a percentage of FOB shortfall. Changes to buyer details and amendments to quantity are permitted if exports complete within RC validity; one-time short revalidation is allowed. Fulfillment is only recognized when customs handover and Let Export Order are effected within RC validity; inconsistent consignee arrangements may attract penalties.

Deemed export benefits barred where imported capital goods are supplied as such to project authorities, no drawback refund permitted.
Deemed export benefits are inapplicable when imported capital goods are supplied as such to project authorities; goods qualify as deemed exports only when manufactured in India. If contractors or subcontractors import capital goods and supply them as imported items to project authorities, customs duties paid on those imports cannot be refunded as deemed export duty drawback under the Foreign Trade Policy. Regional Authorities should apply this clarification when processing deemed export claims.

Import of dyes limits within licence CIF value adjusted; specialty textile products permitted higher proportion under amended note.
The amendment to General Note No.5 modifies permitted import composition for dyes and chemicals within the licence CIF value by fixing ceilings expressed as percentages of FOB value within overall CIF, including a specific higher ceiling for specialty textile products such as fire retardant and water, oil and stain repellant textiles.

Bar-coding requirement deferred for pharmaceutical export packaging, with secondary and primary packaging compliance start dates postponed.
The Directorate announces deferment of mandated bar-coding for export consignments of pharmaceuticals: the trace-and-track bar-coding requirement for secondary-level packaging is postponed to a later mid-year commencement and the requirement for primary-level packaging is postponed to a subsequent start in the following year, amending earlier public notices and extending compliance time under the Foreign Trade Policy.

On-line transmission of export authorizations now mandatory at Krishnapatnam port; Customs to receive DES and EPCG messages.
Krishnapatnam Port (INKRI1) is added to Customs ports for on-line transmission; from 23 December 2011 all DES (Advance Authorization and DFIA) and EPCG authorizations issued on or after that date by Regional Authorities must be communicated to Customs through on-line message exchange/EDI.

Corrigendum: Export description corrected to Metamitron Technical (98%Min.) in the DEPB Rate Schedule.
Corrigendum under Paragraph 2.4 of the Foreign Trade Policy rectifies the export item description at Sl. No. 1011, Product Code-62 of the DEPB Rate Schedule to read "Metamitron Technical (98%Min.)" in place of the typographical "Metamitrion Tech (98%Min.)", limited solely to spelling correction and not affecting rates or other provisions.

Standard Input-Output Norms for PTFE export require specified precursor imports or alternative inputs with licensing conditions.
SION H-571 fixes input norms for Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) exports: manufacture of 1 kg PTFE may use either Monochloro Di Fluoro Methane (Refrigerant R-22/HCFC 22) or, alternatively, Methanol together with Fluorspar in the stated quantities. Use of Import Item No.1 is subject to conditions under Import Licensing Note (1) to Chapter 29 of the ITC (HS).

Barcoding requirement for pharmaceutical exports clarified: applies to finished formulations, not bulk drugs or APIs.
DGFT clarified that the barcoding requirement-one-dimensional barcodes encoding GTIN, Batch Number, Expiry Date and a Unique Serial Number instituted for export consignments effective 1 October 2011-applies only to finished pharmaceutical products (medical formulations) and does not apply to bulk drugs, APIs or intermediates.

On-line registration mandatory for RCMC uploads; failure to upload by deadline bars manual RCMC acceptance.
Export Promotion Councils, Commodity Boards and Authorities must upload RCMC data onto the DGFT server by 30 November 2011; failure to complete online registration and uploads would have triggered mandatory electronic registration and disallowance of manual RCMC/Registration Certificates, and the DGFT has extended the final deadline to 30 November 2011 with no further extensions permitted.

Penalty for export shortfall allows removal from defaulter list upon verification and prescribed payment by exporters.
Names of exporters are removed from the defaulter list after documentary re verification and payment of the prescribed penalty to the concerned Regional Authorities; 48 firms in Annexure 1 were de listed. Exporters whose shipments exceed the tolerance of plus or minus five percent may obtain removal by paying a penalty comprising a fixed component plus a percentage of the shortfall beyond the five percent allowance, following re verification with the issuing RC authority.

Single IEC per PAN: additional IECs must be surrendered or will be blocked if not surrendered within the specified period.
Directive requiring surrender of additional Importer-Exporter Codes issued against a single PAN, reaffirming that only one IEC is permitted per PAN under Para 2.9 of the Handbook of Procedures 2009-14, and directing firms to surrender extra IECs within the specified period or have those IECs blocked.

Mandatory Applicant Identification Data updated for IEC applications requiring PAN, contact details and banker email for record verification.
Amendments to ANF2A require mandatory PAN details, telephone numbers, email IDs and the mobile number of the signatory on Part A; alternate email and website remain optional. Part B's bank certificate must state the banker's email ID and the issuing official's email to facilitate verification. The form mandates full individual names in the order First Name, Middle Name, Last Name without abbreviations, and provides an illustrative example; unstarred fields are mandatory.

DEPB eligibility clarified for exports under free shipping bills; procedure for RA verification and issuance specified.
Procedure for granting DEPB on exports filed as "Free Shipping Bills": exporters must manually enter shipping bill details in the online application and submit an exporter attested hard copy to the Regional Authority. The RA will assess entitlement by comparing the shipping bill description with the relevant DEPB entry, and if satisfied will issue DEPB based on the FOB value of the shipping bill or the Bank Realisation Certificate.

Physical production requirement: non-integrated DGFT authorizations must be presented in hard copy for customs registration.
On-line verification via message exchange is available only for Advance Authorization, Export Promotion Capital Goods authorization, Duty Free Import Authorization and DEPB; all other authorizations, including Annual Advance Authorization, Annual EPCG, SHIS, restricted/SCOMET authorizations and Chapter 3 Reward Scheme instruments, must be registered or operated by customs only upon production of the physical authorization document with no on-line verification.

Exchange rate applicability for composition fee determines shortfall calculation based on authorization issue date for export obligation regularization.
Where there is a shortfall in FOB value the authorization holder must deposit an amount equal to 1% of the shortfall payable in Indian rupees, and the exchange rate for determining that shortfall is to be the date of issue of the authorization.

Conversion of shipping bills can confer DEPB entitlement when customs authorized conversion before withdrawal, prompting claim admission and review.
Directorate General of Foreign Trade instructs Regional Authorities to admit DEPB claims where Commissioners of Customs had permitted conversion of free Shipping Bills to DEPB Shipping Bills during the interim period before the conversion facility was withdrawn, and to review past rejections that fall within that period; entitlement arises where Customs, having recorded reasons in writing, permitted conversion and the exporter did not avail the original scheme benefit.

Special bonus benefit for designated focus products provides an export incentive for eligible shipments during specified policy period.
Insertion of Table 8 in Appendix 37D introduces a Special Bonus Benefit under the Focus Product Scheme for specified ITC (HS) coded products exported from 01.10.2011 to 31.03.2012, granting a bonus equal to 1% of FOB export value in free foreign exchange; additionally, a new focus product entry is added to Table 4 for exports effective from 01.04.2011, expanding product-level eligibility under the Handbook of Procedures, Vol. I.

Exemption for export of excise-verified casein stock permits specified firms to export pre-ban manufactured inventories.
Exemption permits export of excise verified stocks of casein and casein products manufactured prior to the export ban, pursuant to Notification No. 83; the DGFT Trade Notice authorises specific quantities for named firms based on excise verification, and informs customs, regional DGFT authorities and trade members to facilitate exports in accordance with verification records.

Barcoding requirement on tertiary pharmaceutical export packaging mandates GTIN, batch, expiry and serials from 01.10.2011.
Mandatory 1D barcoding on tertiary packing of export consignments of pharmaceuticals and drugs, encoding GTIN, batch number, expiry date and a unique serial number, effective from 01.10.2011 and compulsory for products manufactured on or after that date.

Technical Textiles eligibility limited to listed products for FPS benefit; non listed grants must be recovered by authorities.
Only the 33 items enumerated in the Annexure qualify as Technical Textiles for FPS benefit; a technical textile is one whose primary criterion is function (e.g., automotive, medical, geotextiles, protective clothing). FPS benefits wrongly granted for exports not on the Annexure within the specified applicability period must be recovered, and Regional Authorities must process claims accordingly.