What is Policy Relaxation? - An Overview

The Policy Relaxation is the exemption from the policy/procedures under the foreign trade policy for Importers and Exporters in India. The Directorate General of foreign trade (DGFT) may in public interest pass such orders or grant such exemption/relaxation or relief on the ground of genuine hardship from any provision of foreign trade policy (FTP) or any procedures. All the cases of policy relaxation are handled by a Policy relaxation committee (PRC), at DGFT New Delhi under the chairmanship of the Directorate General of Foreign Trade.

Online e-PRC system and why it is introduced

The DGFT has introduced an online e-PRC system for seeking policy/procedure relaxations as per the trade notice No. 38/2020-21 dated 15th January 2021. Therefore from 25th January 2021 onwards, all the applications seeking policy or procedure relaxations are mandatorily required to be submitted through the exporter’s dashboard on DGFT Portal. Before the introduction of the online module, the DGFT was receiving an application for seeking policy/procedures relaxation in manual form i.e. in the form of hard copy of prescribed format ANF 2D along with the proof of payment/application fee and other related documents. As a consequence rest of the process also happened in manual mode and took time. So to avoid the delay in the process DGFT has introduced an online Module for the application. The DGFT would not accept any manual application seeking policy/procedures relaxation from 25th January 2021 onwards

PRC Application Online Procedure

• The Online application shall be filled on the DGFT Website – (https://www.dgft.gov.in/CP/).
• The application should be filled as per the form ANF-2D on DGFT Portal.
• An applicant is requested to fill all the mandatory fields marked with an asterisk sign.
• Login into the DGFT portal with the help of user ID and password (Received after Linking IEC of the company).
• Click on Policy Relaxation Committee from the Services and apply for a fresh Application form “Apply for PRC Committee”
• Fill in all the details and upload the necessary documents.
• After filling in the Applicant Details & fill in the Personal Hearing Details.
• Select ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to apply for Personal Hearing (PH).
• Pay the fee Rs 2000/- for fresh application as per Appendix 2K & Rs 5000/- for review application.
• The applicant can track the status of the submitted application in the Submitted application from My Dashboard.

PRC Application Procedure – Flowchart

[Policy Relaxation Committee (PRC) DGFT Online Application Procedure]

Type of cases discussed at the Policy Relaxations committee (PRC) DGFT

We have listed few examples of the policy relaxation cases in which exporters have requested the PRC Committee for the policy relaxation:

• To Allow MEIS Benefits against time-barred shipping bills.
• Grant of Duty credit scrip under MEIS Scheme wherein shipping bills have “N” in the scheme reward column.
• 2nd Export obligation (EO) Extension under Advance Authorization Scheme if the 50% EO criteria not fulfilled.
• Extension in Export Obligation (EO) after the expiry of both the extensions.
• Relaxation to claim SEIS scheme for the 2nd time for the same FY if some invoices missed to be claimed.
• Relaxation for missing out on the condition of export fulfillment within 6 months from the date of import against Advance Authorization under Appendix 4J.
• To allow MEIS Benefits for the shipping bills against which e-BRC has been received late from the banker.
• Import of 2^nd hand capital goods under the EPCG Scheme.
• Relaxation of Pre-import condition of Advance Authorization, etc.

Who are we and How can we help you?

At Sairaj International, we are India’s No. 1 DGFT Consultants. We study your entire business process and guide you for all the eligible export benefits in India that your Company can claim. Our only motto is to get maximum export incentives for our clients within the policy framework.

At Sairaj International Consultants, we are India’s No. 1 DGFT Consultants. We study your entire business process and guide you for all the eligible export benefits in India that your Company can claim. Our only motto is to get maximum export incentives for our clients within the policy framework.

We have our own team of DGFT experts who assists genuine exporters and importers in making request/plea to Policy relaxation committee (PRC), DGFT New Delhi for relaxation of certain provisions of policy/procedures on the ground that there is a genuine hardship to the exporters/importers.

We do the analysis of the PRC cases and perform the following tasks

• Online applications are done by our experts.
• Evaluate the demands raised by the policy relaxation committee.
• As per the PRC demands prepare the replies.
• Attend the personal hearings if required.
• Represent cases effectively on merits.

We have a PAN India presence.

We would appreciate your comments and views on the above topic.