Govt issues SoP for Work from Home Permission for implementation of Rule 43A of the SEZ Rules, 2002 [Read Circular]

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has issued guidelines providing standard operating procedure for Work from Home (WFH) permission for implementation of Rule 43A of the Special Economic Zones (Third amendment) Rules, 2022.

The SEZ (Third Amendment) Rules, 2022 dated 14.07.2022 and Rule 43A in the said Rules were amended and to ensure a harmonized implementation of the said rule notified, the Ministry has issued a standard operating procedure to be followed by the offices of the Development Commissioners.

As per the SoP, the units intending to or implementing WFH will formulate and adopt a WM Scheme and submit applications to the relevant Development Commissioner notifying the adoption of the WFH Scheme, at least 15 days in advance from the date that such WFH Scheme is intended to be put into effect at the unit, preferably by email, through the registered email id of the unit, to the concerned Development Commissioner office, with a copy to the Specified Officer concerned as per sub-rule 3 and 6 of the notification.. The email and other address or contact details where proposals are to be submitted would be published on the SEZ/ Development Commissioner's website and noticeboard.

The application should be in the prescribed form and shall contain a covering note signed by the authorized signatory of the unit mentioning the details provided under the SoP,

“In order to ensure adequate period for compliance with Rule 43A, for the units already operating under the WFH option covering the existing employees, a period of 90 days for providing of required information would be provided, as a one-time exception_ Further, the units shall ensure that the electronic assets removed are duly accounted for in appropriate records,” the guidelines said.

In case of new employees, provisional permission for WFH may be availed on an immediate basis, which may be regularized through an application, preferably by email, within 15 days, it said.

It is clarified that the discretion vested with Development Commissioners shall be exercised so as to enable and allow the implementation of WFH schemes adopted by the units (especially given the fact that many Units are operating at close to 90% WFH today and may require sufficient time to reduce this gradually in a manner that the employees are not inconvenienced and work is not impacted) and such approval shall not be denied or revoked without due opportunity of being heard and any decision denying or revoking such approval shall provide reasons for the same.

To Read the full text of the Circular CLICK HERE

Support our journalism by subscribing to TaxscanAdFree. Follow us on Telegram for quick updates.