Page 42 - ELT_15th July 2020_Vol 373_Part 2

A48 EXCISE LAW TIMES [ Vol. 373

PROCESS OF SUSPENSION OF IEC NUMBER
UNDER FOREIGN TRADE (DEVELOPMENT
AND REGULATION) ACT, 1992
PROCESS OF SUSPENSION OF IEC NUMBER
By
Vijay Shekhar Jha, LL.M.
ASSOCIATE AT ASAV ATTORNEYS & ADVISORS LLP

Introduction
The essential document for want of which busi-
ness of import-export cannot be performed is Import-
Export Code number (hereinafter will be referred as “IEC”). With the intention to
encourage business in India, Government has made the procedure of getting IEC
easy and expeditious. It is in this light that the concept of PAN based e-
application was formulated wherein IEC is conferred to the applicant on the ba-
sis of their PAN and few other documents showing ambit of their businesses that
applicants are planning to undertake once they receive IEC.
Pursuant to execution of this concept it was witnessed that on the one
hand owing to ease in getting IEC, genuine businessmen were benefiting expo-
nentially, but on the other hand there was a segment of businessmen who were
exploiting this procedure by submitting fake documents to get IEC. These busi-
nessmen were doing so, either with the intention to launder their lucre or to avail
benefits of various schemes offered by the Government to promote import-
export activities without actually ever venturing in any kind of business. There-
fore, it became indispensable on the part of Government to suspend and eventu-
ally cancel such ill begotten IEC. Thus, this paper attempts to decipher the pro-
cedure to be adopted to suspend an IEC as elucidated in the Foreign Trade (De-
velopment and Regulation) Act, 1992 (hereinafter will be referred as “FTDR”).
Suspension and cancellation of IEC u/s. 8 of the FTDR
Section 8 of the FTDR spells out the procedure which an Adjudicating
Authority (hereinafter will be referred as “AA”) is supposed to adhere to before
suspending any IEC conferred under Section 7 of the FTDR. Conspectus of Sec-
tion 8 is discussed below :
 Under this section IEC of any person can be suspended only when
such person has contravened any of the following, viz. :
• Provisions of the FTDR Act or any rules or orders made
thereunder;
• (provisions or rules or order made under) Foreign Trade Pol-
icy or any other law
Relating to :
• Central Excise or Customs or Foreign Exchange; or
• Has committed any other economic offence under any other
law as specified by notification by the Central Government in
the official gazette.

EXCISE LAW TIMES  15th July 2020  42