DGFT Amends Export Policy Of Non-Basmati White Rice
Bhavya Singh
22 Aug 2023 4:15 PM GMT
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), operating under the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India, has issued a significant Trade Notice, Trade Notice No. 23/2023-DGFT, dated 18th August 2023, outlining a crucial amendment to the export policy concerning Non-Basmati White Rice (HS Code 1006 30 90).The Trade Notice, highlights that the Export Policy of Non-basmati...
The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), operating under the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India, has issued a significant Trade Notice, Trade Notice No. 23/2023-DGFT, dated 18th August 2023, outlining a crucial amendment to the export policy concerning Non-Basmati White Rice (HS Code 1006 30 90).
The Trade Notice, highlights that the Export Policy of Non-basmati white rice (Semi-milled or wholly milled rice, whether or not polished or glazed: Other) under HS code 1006 30 90 has been amended from ‘Free’ to ‘Prohibited’ vide Notification No. 20/2023 dated 20.07.2023.
The circular further highlights that the provisions as under Para 1.05 of the Foreign Trade Policy (FTP), 2023, regarding transitional arrangements, were not made applicable. However, under certain circumstances, consignments of Non-Basmati rice were allowed to be exported under specific conditions:
“i. where loading of Non-basmati rice on the ship has commenced before this Notification;
ii. where the shipping bill is filed and vessels have already berthed or arrived and anchored in Indian ports and their rotation number has been allocated before this Notification; The approval of loading in such vessels will be issued only after confirmation by the concerned Port Authorities regarding anchoring/berthing of the ship for loading of Non-basmati rice prior to the Notification;
iii. where Non-basmati rice consignment has been handed over to the Customs/custodian before this Notification and is registered in their systems/ where Non-basmati rice consignment has entered the Customs station for exportation before this Notification and is registered in the electronic systems of the concerned Custodian of the Customs station with verifiable evidence of date and time stamping of these commodities having entered the Customs Station prior to 20.07.2023. The period of export shall be up to 31.08.2023.”
The DGFT had received several representations from stakeholders, including Customs Authorities, seeking clarification regarding the interplay of conditions (i), (ii), and (iii) of the notification issued on July 20, 2023. The circular now explicitly clarifies that these conditions are independent of each other, meaning that export is permissible if any one of the three conditions outlined in the notification is met by the exporter.
