In continuation of Trade Notice No. 12/2015 dated 13.01.2016, stressing the need to maintain absolute integrity and transparency in the functioning of all DGFT offices, attention is drawn to the fact that DGFT is moving towards an IT enabled paperless and personal contact free environment to achieve these objectives in a more comprehensive and complete manner. While these actions have been substantially undertaken and remaining actions will be taken in an expedited timeframe, the following steps are to be immediately implemented in all DGFT offices, including DGFT Headquarters in Delhi:

(i) Barring exceptions given below, no outside person (i.e. person not working in that office) will be required to enter any DGFT office including DGFT Headquarters henceforth.

(ii) All queries/submissions to be made to any DGFT office shall be made by e-mail to the officer/staff member concerned. All such e-mails will be replied to within 48 hours of their receipt and the matter resolved in the prescribed timeframe. Where further clarification, etc. is required, it will be indicated in the e-mail reply for suitable response by the applicant. All e-mails by the applicant shall be copied to the Head of the Office. The reply from the officer concerned shall also be copied to the Head of the Office, who will on a weekly basis review all such e-mails to ensure compliance with the above timeline and timely disposal of the matter. List of e-mail addresses of Heads of Offices is given below. For all functional areas where online facility/options are available, these may be preferably exercised by applicants.

(iii) In matters where physical submission is absolutely necessary, the applicant will dispatch the physical documentation by speed post with a copy of the above e-mail/online submission reference to link the two and mention the same in the e-mail which can include scanned copies of the documents as attachments.

(iv) Any person who wishes to submit a document or application in person notwithstanding (i), (ii) and (iii) above for unavoidable reasons, will do so by way of submission at a Receipt Desk at the Office Reception, in each DGFT office. The person submitting such application/documentation shall be given a computerized acknowledgement. This application must carry the name, address, telephone No. and e-mail address of the applicant. As indicated in (i) and (ii) above, all Heads of Offices will monitor these submissions also on weekly basis to ensure that a response by e-mail is sent to the applicant within 48 hours and the matter is disposed of within the prescribed timeline.

(v) If, notwithstanding the above, it is absolutely necessary for an applicant to meet an officer in person, the meeting shall be permissible only with the Head of Office or a person not below the rank of Joint DGFT who shall listen to the applicant and facilitate timely and proper disposal of the matter as above and convey a response by e-mail. It shall be strictly enforced that visitors' passes shall not be issued in any other circumstance. Visitors issued passes for meeting with Head of the Office/officers of Joint DGFT and above rank, will be strictly supervised to ensure that they meet with the designated person and immediately exit the building. Any person entertaining visitors in violation of these guidelines will be strictly dealt with. EDI related complainants may, however, be allowed by the senior to meet with technical staff to resolve their matter.

(vi) All RAs shall maintain an updated list of all pending applications in various functional areas like IEC code, Status Holder Certificate, DFIA/Advance Authorisation, EPCG, EODC, MEIS, other scripts etc giving time duration of pendency etc and review daily. With support of NIC these lists shall be posted online.

2. These instructions may be strictly complied with. Support from exporter/importer community is requested to enable this arrangement to succeed and ensure that the functioning of DGFT offices is transparent and free of improprieties.

Encl.: List of e-mail addresses, as indicated above.
 

(Anup Wadhawan)
Director General of Foreign Trade
E-mail: dgft@nic.in

(Issued from File No. 4/1/2016/Vig./17)

E-mail addresses of Regional Authorities of DGFT