GST Facilitation Cell established to serve as first point of contact for GST-related issues under Foreign Trade Policy.
A GST Facilitation Cell is established in the Regional Office to serve as the first point of contact for addressing GST-related issues arising under the Foreign Trade Policy; the Cell's composition is specified with the Head of Office as Chairman, a Member Secretary, and an FTDO (IEC) as Member to receive and coordinate stakeholder queries and facilitate resolution during GST rollout.

GST Facilitation Cell established to address GST issues under the Foreign Trade Policy and serve as first point of contact.
Constitution of a GST Facilitation Cell in DGFT Headquarter and Regional Offices to act as the first point of contact for addressing GST-related issues under the Foreign Trade Policy; Headquarter Cell led by Addl. DGFT Nikunj Kumar Srivastava with Joint DGFT Rakesh Kumar and Dy. DGFT Kaushlendra Pratap Singh as members and contact details provided; Regional Authorities instructed to establish similar Cells for local stakeholder access.

Territorial jurisdiction amendment: DGFT Hyderabad designated regional authority for Telangana, updating Foreign Trade Policy coverage.
Amendment revises the territorial jurisdiction entry for the Regional Office at Hyderabad, specifying the office address and contact details and designating its territorial jurisdiction as the State of Telangana, thereby updating Appendix 1A of the Foreign Trade Policy under powers conferred by paragraph 2.04.

SCOMET export permission for stock & sale requires exporter-stockist EUC, inventory reporting, and prior re export approval.
SCOMET Stock & Sale exports are permitted only from an Indian principal/wholly owned subsidiary to their overseas subsidiary/principal (stockist) on the basis of an End Use cum End User Certificate specifying destination countries and documentary proof of relationship. Exports must be transferred to final end users within authorization validity; authorizations may be revalidated. Annual inventory and transfer statements and a consolidated post expiry statement are required. Applications for re export/re transfer must use ANF 2O(a) with EUCs from each supply chain link, invoices/purchase orders and technical specs; Category 0, 1C, 6 items and all Technology are excluded.

Recovery of DFCE entitlements requires procedural scrutiny and recoveries where misuse of duty credit scrips is established.
The Supreme Court held Notification No.28/2004 to be clarificatory and Public Notice No.40/2004 ultra vires, finding that later notifications did not create vested rights for exporters who had not made actual exports and emphasizing the need to prevent misuse of the DFCE Scheme; recoveries of DFCE scrips must be undertaken in accordance with the Court's decision.

Retrospective application barred: TPS notifications apply prospectively, requiring re-examination of claims and recovery where applicable.
The judgment requires that notifications altering Target Plus Scheme entitlement and exclusions for 2005-06 operate only from their issuance dates, preserving original TPS rates and eligibility for exports prior to those dates. Regional authorities must re-examine pending TPS claims, issue additional scrips or recover wrongful grants after Zonal Committee due diligence focused on high-growth claims and pre-notification product exclusions, deny benefits where misuse is established, secure certificates confirming no government dues before release, and report fortnightly on implementation and recoveries.

TRQ for Raw Sugar limits imports through SEZs and ties allocations to unit refining capacity and actual user compliance.
Clarification: TRQ imports of raw sugar are not permitted through Special Economic Zone units; allocations are unit-specific and based on declared refining capacity plus actual user conditions. Imported raw sugar must be processed in the factory/unit for which quota is allotted. TRQ entitlement does not waive any regulatory or safety clearances; applicants must submit self-declarations of refining capacity and supporting certified documents. Port routing within the same zone is permitted to avoid congestion, and country of origin is not material to TRQ eligibility.

Port registration: Inclusion of Hazira seaport permits exporters to access Handbook of Procedures export promotion benefits.
The Seaport at Hazira (Surat) is added to the list of sea ports as a Port of Registration in the Handbook of Procedures 2015-2020, enabling exporters using Hazira to avail export promotion benefits under Chapter Four of the Foreign Trade Policy; the port names will be alphabetised in the revised handbook.

Change of Regional Office Addresses: Appendix 1A updated to amend DGFT regional office locations and contact details.
Administrative amendment to Appendix - 1A of the Foreign Trade Policy, 2015-20 revising the office address for the Regional Office at Puducherry (S. No. 33) and amending head-of-office entries for Regional Offices at Ludhiana (S. No. 8), Ahmedabad (S. No. 17), Bangalore (S. No. 34) and Hyderabad (S. No. 37), including updated street addresses, contact numbers, email addresses and territorial jurisdiction descriptions, to be read in place of the previously recorded particulars.

MEIS claim accuracy: exporters must disclose commission, insurance and freight and refund excess claims to avoid enforcement.
MEIS applications must state Commission, Insurance and Freight in the relevant columns rather than indicating zeros; exporters who earlier claimed MEIS including on CIF values must refund excess claims and provide file number, MEIS licence number and value details to the office to avoid action under the Foreign Trade (Development & Regulation) Act 1992.

Export controls on dual use and non SCOMET items strengthened: licensing, recordkeeping and end use certificates now mandated.
Amendments treat certain non-SCOMET items with potential WMD/missile/military risk as subject to denial or licence analogous to SCOMET controls; exporters must apply in prescribed form and, where notified or aware of risk, export may be refused or allowed only under SCOMET-style licence. SCOMET authorisation holders must retain all application materials, correspondence, contracts, financial records, government communications and shipping documents for five years. The rules clarify multilateral regimen adherence, assign licensing jurisdiction for specified SCOMET categories, shorten IMWG consultation to thirty days, and prescribe revised End Use cum End User Certificates with non-proliferation declarations and post-shipment verification.

BIS licence requirement for gold dore imports: only applications from refineries with valid BIS licences considered.
From 1 June 2017 applications for licences or authorisations to import gold dore will be considered only where the applicant refinery holds a valid licence issued by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), making possession of a current BIS licence a precondition to eligibility for grant of import authorisations.

Free Trade Agreement negotiations with EAEU seek stakeholder inputs to shape India's negotiation strategy and sectoral priorities.
Negotiations to enter into a Free Trade Agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union are likely to commence; the Department of Commerce will hold a stakeholder consultation in Mumbai to identify negotiating interests and to solicit firm-level views distinguishing offensive (market access) and defensive (import protection) concerns, with preliminary sectoral impacts identified for agriculture, pharmaceuticals, plastics, textiles, engineering, machinery and automobiles.

Services Exports from India Scheme extension of reward eligibility period to 31 March 2017 under amended Appendix 3D.
The Director General of Foreign Trade amends Note 1 of Appendix 3D to extend the period for which notified services and reward rates under the Services Exports from India Scheme (SEIS) apply, changing the operative window from ending 31-03-2016 to ending 31-03-2017, while retaining that the list of services and rates remains subject to review from 01-04-2017; all other contents of Public Notice No. 3/2015-20 remain the same.

Amendment to Standard Input Output Norms updates product description to Acetyl Salicylic Acid (Aspirin) under Chemicals group.
Amendment to Standard Input Output Norms A-39 revises the export product nomenclature in the Chemical and Allied Products group to Acetyl Salicylic Acid (Aspirin), clarifying export classification under the SION regime and incorporated into the Handbook of Procedure (Vol. II) pursuant to powers in the Foreign Trade Policy and Handbook of Procedure.

EU GSP REX registration: exporters must self certify origin for consignments over 6000 and retain records.
Indian exporters must register under the REX self certification system with designated Local Users by submitting IEC and Importer Exporter Profile and obtaining a 20 digit REX number that embeds the IEC and Local User identifiers. REX numbers must be shown on Statements on Origin for consignments exceeding EUR 6000 (multiple shipments under one invoice count as one consignment). Erroneous REX numbers require revocation by the Local User (annulment needs Department of Commerce approval). Exporters must retain origin documents for three years and submit fortnightly trade documents to Local Users; supplier declarations and EU GSP rules of origin compliance are required.

Tariff Rate Quota increase for specialty sugar permits exporters to access non-country specific allocation via first-come-first-serve.
USDA has increased the non-country specific Tariff Rate Quota for refined/specialty sugar for US fiscal year 2017; the additional specialty sugar quota is non-country specific and will be operated on a First-Come, First-Serve basis. Indian exporters are advised to identify a US company to apply to USDA for the tariff-free quota and to consult the USDA links for application procedures so as to utilize the additional allocation promptly.

Product description amendments align MEIS Schedule entries with ITC(HS), applying corrections retrospectively to included products.
Director General of Foreign Trade corrected product descriptions in Table 2 of Appendix 3B of the MEIS Schedule for ITC(HS) codes 62099090, 84879000 and 94019000, replacing existing descriptions with amended text to align entries with ITC(HS). These corrections are deemed applicable from 01.04.2015, the initial inclusion date of the products in the Schedule, and rectify descriptions that existed prior to Public Notice 61 to conform with ITC(HS) nomenclature.

Online issuance of RCMC: Export Promotion Councils may issue certificates digitally without DGFT permission, following ANF 2R.
DGFT clarifies Export Promotion Councils may adopt online mechanisms for issuance of RCMCs without prior permission, provided the online format follows the general layout prescribed in ANF 2R of the Appendices and Aayat Niryat Forms of the Foreign Trade Policy (2015-20). EPCs should introduce online applications, processing and issuance, plan a timeframe and roadmap for changeover, and share that roadmap with the Directorate.

MEIS extension for onion exports continued under Foreign Trade Policy, maintaining incentive eligibility for a further short period.
Extension of MEIS benefit for 'Onions Fresh or Chilled' under ITC (HS) code 07031010 is authorized under paragraph 1.03 of the Foreign Trade Policy (2015-2020), extending the notified FOB-based export incentive so that exporters remain eligible to claim the MEIS benefit for shipments effected up to 30.06.2017.