Foreign Trade Development & Regulation Amendment Bill, 2009

Standing Committee on Commerce invites Suggestions on Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2009

The Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2009, introduced in the Rajya Sabha on the 25th November, 2009, has been referred to the Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce, with Shri Shanta Kumar, Member, Rajya Sabha, as its Chairman, for examination and report.

The Bill seeks to amend the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, 1992 with a view, interalia, to:-

i) Provide a statutory provision for safeguard measures enabling imposition of Quantitative Restrictions (QRs);
ii) Bring in tighter export or trade control in the case of dual-use goods and related technologies and to provide enabling provisions for establishing controls as in the Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Act, 2005;
iii) Bring “technology” and “services”, including financial services, within the ambit of the Act for the purpose of administering incentive schemes and other provision of the Foreign Trade Policy;
iv) Dispense with the requirement of obtaining any licence or permit for import or export except as may be provided under the Act;
v) Enable swift and exemplary action in trade dispute matters;
vi) Further rationalise as well as improve the system of levying and realising fiscal penalties;
vii) Empower Customs and Central Excise Settlement Commission for settlement of customs and excise duty and interest dues;
viii) Broaden the scope of word “licence” defined in the Act;
ix) Provide a provision for review of all decisions of subordinate officers by Director General of Foreign Trade.