DGFT Issues Trade Notice for Rupee Payment from Sanction Countries in OFAC

· e-BRC has been generated in INR and payment

· MEIS Online E- Com module

· OFAC Shipments

· Shipments to OFAC countries

· No physical/paper copy of the MEIS scrips will be issued for EDI ports

· Shipping bills with Let Export date on or after 16.05.2019, usual late cut would be applied by the system and RAs shall not change it

[Trade Notice No. 15/2015-2020 dated 16 May 2019]

Subject: Claim of MEIS benefits for exports made to countries in the OFAC List such as Iran and for Vostro payments

Vide Public Notice 8/2015-20 dated 14.05.2019 a revised procedure for making online MEIS applications/claims has been notified for situations where exports have been made to countries listed in the OFAC list such as Iran or export realizations have been received through the Vostro mechanism.

2. Under the revised procedure-

2A. In case a shipment has been made to countries which are in the OFAC list and e-BRC has not been generated by the concerned bank for that specific shipment, then the exporter while making the MEIS application/claim has to submit to the RA

i A declaration to that effect, along with

ii A self attested copy of the proof of payment such as Foreign Inward Remittance Certificate/Statement

2B. Also, if e-BRC has been generated in INR and payment is under the Vostro mechanism, a letter from the concerned bank is required to be submitted to the RA confirming that the payment for the particular shipment has been received through Vostro Mechanism in freely convertible currency.

3. In the MEIS Online E- Com module

3A. For OFAC Shipments:

• The exporters are required to submit all such shipments in 1 application. The system would not allow shipments to other countries to be linked in this application.

• An option of "Shipments to OFAC countries " is required to be ticked for building the application with such shipping bills. After the relevant option has been exercised by the applicant, the system would segregate such applications and classify them under 'manual ' mode.

• Then for the relevant shipping bill the applicant is required to fill the details of foreign exchange realized manually and submit the application. Exporters will also need to submit the hard copy of documents as mentioned above to the RA [making a reference of the RA File No which has been generated after the Online MEIS claim has been submitted to the jurisdictional RA]. It may be noted that such 'manual' applications would not be auto processed by the system and will require due scrutiny by the RAs before MEIS scrips are approved/issued. However, in line with Trade Notice no 3 dated 3rd April 2019, no physical/paper copy of the MEIS scrips will be issued for EDI ports.

• For all such applications, the RAs can change the FIRC details after due scrutiny of the physical copy of the FIRC/ Statement.

• For such applications with shipping bills of the period 01.04.2015 to 15.05.2019, the RAs shall consider the date of Let Export Date as 15.05.2019 (in relaxation of the procedure as notified in para 9.12 (D) of the HBP 205-20) and accordingly modify and impose the appropriate late cut. For shipping bills with Let Export date on or after 16.05.2019, usual late cut would be applied by the system and RAs shall not change it.

3B. For Vostro Payments, the E com module will identify and segregate the e BRCs which are in INR for processing in manual mode. The RAs will scrutinize the documents as prescribed in the Public Notice 08 dated 13.05.2019, which are a self declaration and the certificate of the bank, before issue of the scrip.

4. Any difficulties, faced by the exporters while applying under the new procedure, as above, may please be brought to the notice of this Directorate.

5. This is issued with the approval of the competent authority.

[Issued from File No. 01/61/180/84/AM19/PC-3]