Procedure for Closure of Advance Authorizations

As part of the IT Revamp, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade has enabled the Online Filing of requests for Closure of Advance Authorizations vides a Trade notification dated 30th March 2021. Authorization Holders are requested to make online submissions for the fulfilment of Export Obligation to the DGFT Regional Authority (RA). The new facility can be utilized for Redemption, Surrender, Duty Paid Regularization, Bond Waiver or the Clubbing of Advance Authorizations. The current article briefs the procedure for Closure of Advance Authorizations

Synopsis of DGFT Notification

Directorate General of Foreign Trade has revamped its IT systems to provide a paperless, contact-less, electronic interface to the exporters/importers of DGFT. The new IT System amongst other improvements includes a process for managing the entire process of Advance Authorizations including its issuance, amendment and closure.

• Authorization Holders are required to make online submissions for the fulfilment of Export Obligation to the DGFT Regional Authority (RA) as per Para 4.46 of Hand Book of Procedures 2015-2020.
• Authorization Holders can apply online for Redemption, Surrender, Duty Paid Regularization, Bond Waiver or the Clubbing of Advance Authorizations through this new facility

Documents Required for Closure of Advance Authorizations

• The related documents will be available for the perusal of the concerned applicant exporter under the DGFT Website.
• The EDI Shipping Bills or Bill of Entries are electronically and automatically fetched from the DGFT-Customs Electronic interface
• e-BRCs, as uploaded by the banks, are also automatically available under the Bills Repositories.

The following documents will not be available online, and the authorization holder is required to upload them to their respective online repositories before preparing the online closure application.

• Non-EDI Shipping Bills
• Non-EDI Bill of Entries
• GST invoices
• CA/CE/CS Certificates
• TR Challan
• BG/LUT

Note: The facility for on-boarding of certifying authorities such as CA/CE/CS and for them to digitally sign and submit certificates against the Exporter’s IEC electronically has also been provided. However, the Authorization Holder has the option to upload the CA/CE/CS Certificate directly to the specific Repository.

The following documents are required to be submitted physically to the Receipts counter at the RA:

• TR Challan
• Bank Guarantee / Letter of Undertaking /Corporate Guarantee

Procedure for Closure of Advance Authorizations

The Procedure for Closure of Advance Authorizations is explained in detail below:

• The Authorization Holder needs to access the official webpage of the DGFT and select the services option from the top of the homepage.

• By clicking on the Advance Authorization/DFIA, the link will redirect to a new page.

• Select the Closure of Advance Authorization option, a window for user login will be displayed.
• Provide the user credential and click on the login option to proceed with the application.

• The Authorization holder may create a license closure application by linking to the documents as already added to the Repositories.
• While the Shipping Bills/Bill of Entries would be automatically linked to the closure application, the other details as required may be added to complete the application before submission.
• Provide all details in the application form make payment and submit the application for processing

Procedure to Add Non-EDI Shipping Bills

In case complete details of Shipping Bills/Bill of Entries are not visible in the application, the applicant may navigate online to DGFT Website and select the My Dashboard option and click on Repositories and Bills Repositories. Select type of bill and proceed with the following actions:

• Add non-EDI shipping bills manually using the “Add Non-EDI Shipping Bills” tab
• The authorization holder can search the EDI shipping bill in the repository and update the export serial number under the part E section in the respective Shipping Bill to ensure that the Advance Authorization export item to the shipping bill item linkage is correlated correctly
• If Bill of Entry data is not automatically available, fetch Bill of Entry for EDI ports using the “Get Bill of Entry from Customs” feature
• Add non-EDI Bill of Entries manually using the “Add Details” tab
• The applicant may search the EDI Bill of Entry in the repository and update the serial number in the respective Bill of Entry to ensure that the Advance Authorization input item to the Bill of Entry item linkage is correlated correctly

Other Announcement for Authorization Holder

• Ordinarily, the RA would not call for any physical submission of the closure application or the supporting documents.
• However, in cases of genuine difficulty, physical documents can be submitted to RA with the approval of the Head of the RA.
• An online application with or without supporting documents is still required to be filed for such applications.

Any subsequent communication, clarification, deficiency letter or redemption, needs to be issued through the online module.

Any physical documents submitted need to be recorded as a correspondence receipt in the online system by the RA and linked to the related online application.

The official notification pertaining to the Procedure to Closure of Advance Authorizations is as follows: