DGFT amends policy on Advance Authorisation

The UK economy plunged into a deep recession as it shrank 20.4 per cent between April and June at the height of the coronavirus lockdown, according to new figures released on Wednesday.

Reacting to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) data, UK chancellor Rishi Sunak admitted that it indicated that the hard times he had warned about are here and that many more jobs will be lost.

"I've said before that hard times were ahead, and today's figures confirm that hard times are here," Sunak told 'Sky News'.

"Hundreds of thousands of people have already lost their jobs, and sadly in the coming months many more will. But while there are difficult choices to be made ahead, we will get through this, and I can assure people that nobody will be left without hope or opportunity," he said.

It marks the first time in 11 years that the UK has tipped into a recession, which is defined by two consecutive threemonth periods of falling GDP. The latest GDP figures showed that it fell by 20.4 per cent between April to June, following a drop of 2.2 per cent between January to March.

After the Delhi High Court ruled against DGFT issuing public notice last year withdrawing Advance Authorisation for export of gold jewellery, medallions and coins, the foreign trade authority has amended the Foreign Trade Policy and re-issued the notification.

The DGFT on August 10 issued a notification disallowing advance authorisation scheme where the export item is gold medallions and coins, gold jewellery and articles manufactured by fully mechanised process.

The DGFT had issued a public notice on the same matter on September 26, 2019. However, M. D. Overseas, an exporter of gold jewellery and medallions, had filed a petition with the Delhi High Court challenging the withdrawal of the scheme.

As per DGFT rules, Advance Authorisation is issued to allow duty-free import of inputs which are physically incorporated in the export product. The rules allow DGFT to exclude any product.

The Delhi High Court in May 2020 ruled that the the public notice issued was beyond DGFT’s power jurisdiction and authority.