Two institutional mechanisms are proposed for addressing the issues of exporters and for regular communication with stakeholders, namely the "Board of Trade" which will have an advisory role and offer a platform for discussions and consultations and the other being the "Council for Trade Development and Promotion" which will be a body with representatives of Central Government and various States and UT Governments.

 Besides the above two institutional mechanisms, product/sector specific export promotion councils and various industry and trade bodies will continue to be the specialised institutions available for consultation from time to time.

 The Government is committed to easy and speedy redressal of grievances from Trade and Industry. The following mechanisms/measures have been put in place:

 (i) Foreign Trade Policy provides for relaxation of Policy and Procedures on grounds of genuine hardship and adverse impact on trade, wherein the Director General of Foreign Trade is empowered to consider request for relaxation of policy and also to provide an opportunity for Personal Hearing (PH) before Policy Relaxation Committee (PRC), if required.

 (ii) To consider individual grievances of exporters/importers, Grievance Committees have been constituted at Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) Headquarters and at various Regional Offices of DGFT.

 (iii) For resolving Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) related issues/grievances of the exporters/importers, a web based complaint monitoring system is in operation. Complaints of exporters/importers are being resolved on real time basis.

 (iv) Further, a Toll Free Number (1800 111 550) and dedicated email identity  have been provided for resolving EDI and Importer-Exporter Code (IEC) number related issues/ grievances of exporters/ importers.

 (v) To resolve quality complaints and trade disputes of exporters/importers, Committees on Quality Complaint and Trade Dispute (CQCTD) have been constituted in 22 offices of DGFT.

 (vi) An All India Customs Consultative Group with the objective to discuss the issues related to Customs policy as well as procedure aspects of import and export operations with various stakeholders, has been constituted in the Central Board of Customs Excise (CBEC). Arrangements for discussing and resolving such issues at the Commissionerate and Zonal level by the field formations of the CBEC are also in place.

 This information was given by the Minister of State (Independent Charge) in the Ministry of Commerce & Industry Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman in a written reply in Lok Sabha.

Exporters grievance redressal strengthened through advisory Board of Trade and a Council for Trade Development and Promotion. An advisory Board of Trade and a Council for Trade Development and Promotion are proposed to enhance consultation; sector councils remain available. Administrative measures include policy-relaxation procedures with personal hearing before a Policy Relaxation Committee, Grievance Committees at headquarters and regional offices, a web-based EDI complaint monitoring system, dedicated telephonic and email channels for EDI and importer-exporter code issues, Quality Complaint and Trade Dispute Committees in multiple offices, and a national customs consultative mechanism with field-level arrangements.