Dispensing with SDF form

Circular No. 15/2015-Customs

F. No. 450/25/2013-Cus IV (Pt.)

Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue 
(Central Board of Excise and Customs)

New Delhi, dated 18.05.2015.

To,

All Chief Commissioners of Customs / Customs (Preventive)

All Chief Commissioners of Customs and Central Excise

All Commissioners of Customs / Customs (Preventive)

All Commissioners of Customs and Central Excise

Sir /Madam 

Subject: Dispensing with SDF form  - reg.

            Government has taken number of measures to enhance the ease of doing business. In this direction, a Committee constituted by Ministry of Commerce and Industry has also recommended the reduction of documents for import and export of goods in order to reduce transaction cost.

2.         As per the extant provisions, an exporter is required to submit the SDF form along with Shipping Bills for export of goods. RBI has recently dispensed with the SDF in case of exports taking place through the EDI ports vide Foreign Exchange Management (Export of Goods and Services) (Amendement)  Regulations, 2015’ and  A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No 101, dated 14.05.2015. Cconsequently, RBI has desired that the declaration of foreign exchange remittance under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (given below) may be made a part of the Shipping Bill.

“I/We undertake to abide by provisions of Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999, as amended from time to time, including realization / repatriation of foreign exchange to / from India.”

DGFT has endorsed this proposal.

3.         Accordingly, Board has issued Notification No 46/2015-Customs (N.T.), dated 18.05.2015 to incorporate the aforementioned declaration in lieu of SDF form in the Shipping Bill. Thus, declaration as mentioned in para 2 above should be furnished by exporters as part of the declaration in the Shipping Bill with immediate effect.

4.         Chief Commissioners of Customs / Chief Commissioners of Customs and Central Excise are advised to sensitize the field formation working under their jurisdiction and issue suitable Public Notice / Trade Notice for guidance of trade and public.

5.         Difficulty faced, if any, in implementation of aforementioned guidelines may be brought to the notice of the Board at an early date.

Yours faithfully,

(Pawan Khetan)

 OSD (Cus–IV)