Centre alters norms on foreign hospitality nod

UNDER FCRA, ANY OFFER BY FOREIGN SOURCE FOR PROVIDING FREE TRAVEL, LODGING OR TRANSPORT IS FOREIGN HOSPITALITY

NEW DELHI: The ministry of home affairs (MHA) on Monday revised its guidelines related to acceptance of foreign hospitality by members of legislatures, office-bearers of political parties, judges, government officials and employees of corporations who travel outside India, asking them to seek prior “online” permission from it.

After the fresh guidelines, Rule 7 of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Rules, 2011, says that “any person belonging to these categories who wishes to avail foreign hospitality shall apply to the Centre in electronic form in Form FC-2 for prior permission to accept such foreign hospitality”.

All such applications, according to the rule, should be accompanied by an invitation from the host or the host country, and administrative clearance of the ministry or department concerned in case of visits sponsored by them at least two weeks before the date of journey. A senior official, who asked not to be named, said: “The provision for intimating the Centre ‘online’ has been there since 2015 but it was not included in the guidelines, which has been done on Monday. Prior to 2015, the process was offline”.

Under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), any offer made in cash or kind by a foreign source for providing a person with cost of travel to any foreign country or territory or with free board, lodging, transport or medical treatment is considered foreign hospitality.

Monday’s guidelines said that prior permission is not needed in cases where the entire expenditure on the visit is being met by the central government or state government or any PSU.