No Restriction on Import of Gold Cover by SEZ units: DGFT Clarifies [Read Circular]

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has clarified that Special Economic Zone (SEZ) units are exempted from restriction on import of Gold cover vide circular no. 03/2023 -24 issued on 14th July 2023.

The clarification mentioned that “Subsequent to the issuance of the Notification no. 19 dated 12.07.2023 restricting import of Gold under HS codes 71131911, 71131919 and 71141910, DGFT has received representations from SEZ units highlighting the issues faced by these units.

In this regard, attention is drawn to rule 27(1) of the Special Economic Zone Rules 2006 as

2. amended. Accordingly, it is clarified that import made by SEZ units under the HS codes 71131911, 71131919 and 71141910 are outside the purview of this Notification.”

The DGFT vide notification no. 19/2023 issued on 12th July 2023, notified the free permit to import gold cover under the valid India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ) without license. But otherwise, the imports are restricted. Earlier the import was free.

Read More: DGFT notifies Free Permit to Import Gold Cover under valid India-UAE CEPA TRQ without License

The notification itself does not contain any explicit exemption for Special Economic Zone (SEZ) units. However, in response to representations from SEZ units regarding the challenges they faced, the directorate, with the aid of this notification, was able to provide a clarification stating that the import of gold covers by SEZ units falls outside the scope of the notification and is therefore not restricted.

To Read the full text of the Order CLICK HERE

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