What is Policy Relaxation? - An Overview

The policy relaxation is the exclusion of Indian importers and exporters from the rules and procedures governing international trade. In the interest of the public, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) may issue such orders or provide such exemptions, relaxations, or reliefs from any foreign trade policy (FTP) requirement or procedure on the basis of genuine hardship. A Policy Relaxation Committee (PRC), chaired by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade, oversees all cases of policy relaxation at DGFT New Delhi.

Why the online e-PRC system was introduced

According to the trade notice No. 38/2020-21 dated January 15, 2021, the DGFT has implemented an online e-PRC system for requesting policy/procedure relaxations. Therefore, starting on January 25, 2021, any requests for policy or procedure relaxations must be made through the exporter's dashboard on the DGFT Portal. Before the online module was introduced, the DGFT received requests for policy and process relaxations in manual form, that is, in the form of hard copies in the prescribed format ANF 2D, along with proof of payment/application fee payment and other pertinent documents. The remaining steps of the process were therefore manual and took time. Therefore, DGFT established an online Module for the application to prevent delays in the process.

PRC Application Online Procedure

• The online application must be completed at https://www.dgft.gov.in/CP/ on the DGFT website.
• The application must be completed via the DGFT Portal's ANF-2D form.
• The candidate must complete all of the required fields denoted by an asterisk.
• Utilise your user ID and password (which you received after linking your company's IEC) to log into the DGFT portal.
• Apply for a new Application form by selecting "Apply for PRC Committee" from the Services menu by clicking on Policy Relaxation Committee.
• Complete all the fields and submit the required files.
• After entering the applicant's information, enter the personal hearing information.
• If you want to request a personal hearing (PH), choose "Yes" or "No."
• For new applications as per Appendix 2K, you must pay a cost of Rs. 2000; for review applications, the charge is Rs. 5000.
• In the Submitted application from My Dashboard, the applicant can monitor the progress of their submitted application.

PRC Application Procedure – Flowchart

Cases that were discussed by the DGFT Policy Relaxations Committee (PRC)

We have provided a few examples of cases when exporters have asked the PRC Committee to relax the rules, including:

• To let MEIS benefits to be used towards past-due shipping expenses.
• Grant of Duty Credit Scrip under the MEIS Scheme when the scheme reward column on the shipping bills reads "N".
• If the 50% EO criterion is not met, a second export obligation (EO) extension may be granted under the advance authorization scheme.
• After the end of both extensions, an extension to the export obligation (EO).
• Relaxation to use the SEIS programme a second time within the same fiscal year if some invoices were not properly claimed.
• Relaxation for failing to comply with Appendix 4J's requirement that exports be fulfilled within six months of the date of import against an advance authorization.
• To permit MEIS benefits for the shipping invoices for which the banker's late e-BRC was received.
• Import of used capital assets through the EPCG Programme.
• Relaxation of the pre-import authorization requirement, etc.