APPLICABILITY OF MEIS - LEO DATE JAN 2021- SHIPPING BILL DATE DEC 2020

[Raghunandhaanan rvi]

Sir

Shipping bills filed with customs in December 2020 with intend to claim MEIS. But LEO has given in 1st January 2021.

MEIS was available only till 31.12.2021.

From 1st January 2021 onwards RoDTEP scheme came to force in place of MEIS i.e. Shipping bills filed from 01.01.2021 onwards. In our case, the shipping bill date is Dec.2020 and the date of LEO is Jan2021.

If RoDTEP is claimed, Exporters are required to declare their intention to claim RoDTEP against each item in shipping bills. In our case it was not there since the shipping bills were filed in Dec 2020. However, our intention to claim MEIS declared in the shipping bill.

Our queries

In the above situation, which is the reward scheme we have to claim (MEIS or RoDTEP)?

Whether LEO date or Shipping Bill date is relevant to make the application?

Whether non-declaration of RoDTEP in shipping bill condonable since Shipping bill date is Dec 2020 and LEO date is 1st Jan 2021?

Is there any clarification in this regard that was issued by DGFT or CBIC?

Kindly advice

[Shilpi Jain]

Let export date means the date on which the export customs clearance procedures completed with customs.

The PDF version of the Final Let Export Order (LEO) copy of the Shipping Bill is to be communicated through email to the Customs Broker and Exporter. This electronic final LEO copy can be shared with Banks, DGFT etc to serve multiple purposes.

So the LEO date will be relevant to decide the eligibility of the scheme.

Further, non-mentioning of the RoDTEP due to the above reason is sure condonable and there are quite a few cases of this nature under the MEIS scheme where missing to declare or tick the option in SB has been considered as a procedural aspect and the incentive has been provided.

[Raghunandhaanan rvi]

Ms. Shilpi Jain Ji

Thank you so much for your valuable guidance.

AI Summary

Export incentive eligibility: LEO date governs scheme entitlement, and procedural non-declaration of RoDTEP may be condoned.
Determination of incentive eligibility turns on the Final Let Export Order (LEO) date as the operative export completion record; the electronic LEO copy can be used to establish completion and support incentive claims. Non-declaration of the successor scheme in the shipping bill, when the bill was filed before the scheme change but LEO issued after, is treated as a procedural omission and has been condoned in comparable cases. No specific DGFT or CBIC clarification is cited in the reply.