Page 146 - ELT_1st July 2020_Vol 373_Part 1

56 EXCISE LAW TIMES [ Vol. 373

From India Scheme (MEIS)”. Such declaration shall be required
even for export shipments under any of the schemes of Chapter 4
(including drawback), Chapter 5 or Chapter 6 of FTP.
(b) Whenever there is a decision during the financial year to include any
new product/goods or new markets then to avail such rewards :
(i) For exports of such products/goods, to such markets, a grace
period of one month from the date of notification/public no-
tice will be allowed for making this declaration of intent.
(ii) After the grace period of one month, all exports (of such
products/goods or to such markets) would have to include
the declaration of intent on all categories of shipping bills.
(iii) For exports made prior to date of notification/public notice of
products/markets, such a declaration would not be required
since such exports would have already taken place.”
24. On a plain reading of the provisions of para 3.14 of the Handbook
of Procedures to Foreign Trade Policy, 2015-20, it is apparent that the ‘declaration
of intent’, in the manner provided for EDI shipping bills, has been made manda-
tory, whereas in the case of Non-EDI shipping bills, such ‘declaration of intent’ is
not stated to be mandatory. The respondents, in their affidavit in reply, have
stated that the instant case is of a SEZ unit which exported the goods under free
shipping bills. All the SEZ exports come under free shipping bills. Therefore, the
mandatory ‘declaration of intent’ with effect from 1-6-2015 will not be applicable
in this case. Therefore, the unit has to declare its intent for claiming benefits un-
der the MEIS for exports made prior to 1-6-2015, that is, for the period between
1-4-2015 to 31-5-2015. As per the Foreign Trade Policy/Handbook of Procedures
2015-20, MEIS benefits were available to SEZ units with effect from 1-4-2015.
25. In case of EDI shipping bills, where it was mandatory to file the
‘declaration of intent’ in the manner provided in para 3.14 of the Handbook of
Procedures to FTP (2015-20), vide Public Notice 40/2015-2020, dated 9th October,
2015, it has been provided thus :
“2. As per para 3.14 of Hand Book of Procedure to FTP (2015-20), all ex-
porters while filling export shipments under all categories of the shipping
bills are required to declare the following intent to claim benefit under
MEIS :
“We intend to claim rewards under Merchandise Exports from India
Scheme (MEIS)”.
Declaration of intent is mandatory with effect from June 1, 2015. C.B.E. & C.
has also issued a circular no. 14/2015, dated April 20, 2015, which requires
mandatory declaration of intent from 1-6-2015 onwards. In EDI generated
shipping bills, exporters are required to tick mark “Y” in case they intend to
claim benefits under MEIS and “N” in case they do not intend to claim ben-
efit under MEIS.
3. In light of these circumstances and to address the matter, in exercise of
powers conferred under paragraph 1.03 of the Foreign Trade Policy (2015-
2020) read with reference to para 3.14 of Handbook of Procedures of FTP
2015-20, the Director General of Foreign Trade hereby allows the following
procedure to be followed where exports have been made between 1-4-2015
to 31-5-2015, and where the exporter has inadvertently marked “N” in the
“reward item box” and wishes to seek MEIS benefits :

EXCISE LAW TIMES  1st July 2020  146