The Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) on Thursday announced that it had become India's first digital signature enabled department. It also announced introduction of a new ‘Niryat Bandhu' scheme for international business mentoring for young turks in international business enterprises.
According to the new Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) unveiled here, the DGFT said it had introduced a higher level of encrypted 2048 bit Digital Signature.
Digital certificate provides a high level of security for online communication such that only intended recipient can read it. It provides authentication, privacy, non-repudiation and integrity in the virtual world.
The new policy also announced introduction of a new ‘Niryat Bandhu' scheme for mentoring first generation entrepreneurs. The officer (Niryat Bandhu) would function in the mentoring' arena and would be a ‘handholding' experiment for the young turks in international business enterprises. Under the scheme, officers of DGFT will be investing time and knowledge to mentor the interested individuals who want to conduct the business in a legal way.
Simplified procedure
On the issue of procedure simplification, import of radioimmunoassay kits was classified in the ‘restricted category' as per ITC HS-Import Schedule. Since the import item is intended for the diagnosis of disease/disorders in humans and animals, the import policy regime for this item is being liberalised to free subject to prior permission of Atomic Energy Regulatory Board.
Imported firearms
The procedure for transfer or sale of imported firearms has also been simplified. For sale/transfer of imported firearms prior permission from DGFT is not required after 10 years of import. Further, this condition of 10 years would not apply if importer attains 60 years of age. Local police licensing authorities or District Magistrates can give permission of sale/ transfer directly. Even for ‘Shooters' category, sale/transfer of imported weapons would not require approval from DGFT.
The policy said that for the first time in the history of foreign trade formulation, the draft text for amendment of HBP v1 was uploaded on the website of DGFT seeking suggestions on our draft. The amendment has incorporated their valuable suggestions. The process of simplifying the redemption /no bond condition of advance authorisation has been started. Under this additional window available to exporters the redemption/no bond condition of Advance Authorization will be done on the basis of a self-declaration.
