The Importer-Exporter Code
Chapter Six
Syllabus topic 2, "Registration Procedure of Importer Exporter Code under The Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, 1992."
Pages 12 to 13 of 62
What the Code is now
The Importer-Exporter Code is a ten-character code, and since 2017 it is the applicant's PAN.
Before that the Director General issued a separate ten-digit number. The Code and the PAN were merged, so an entity now has one identifier for income tax and for foreign trade, and the DGFT issues the certificate rather than a new number.
Two consequences follow and both are asked.
One PAN, one Code. An entity cannot hold more than one Importer-Exporter Code, because it cannot hold more than one PAN. Where a business held several old codes, they were surrendered against the PAN.
The Code is permanent. It does not expire, and it is valid for all the entity's branches, divisions, units and factories.
Who grants it
Section 7 says the Director General, or an officer authorised by him, and in accordance with the procedure specified by the Director General. The procedure is on the DGFT's portal at dgft.gov.in, which MU names in her weblinks.
The steps
- Open the DGFT portal and register as a user, choosing the category of importer or exporter.
- Verify the email and the mobile number by one-time password.
- Open the Apply for IEC service and start a fresh application, which is ANF 2A.
- Enter the PAN of the entity. The portal validates it against the income-tax database and pulls the name and the date of incorporation. A mismatch stops the application here.
- Fill the entity details: nature of the concern, address of the registered office and of the branches, and the details of the proprietor, partners, directors or karta.
- Enter the bank account in the entity's own name, with the IFSC.
- Upload the documents.
- Pay the fee, which is small, by net banking or card.
- Sign with a digital signature or by Aadhaar-based e-signature.
- Submit. The certificate is generated, usually the same day, and is downloadable from the portal.
There is no physical visit and no inspection.
The documents
| Document | For |
|---|---|
| PAN of the entity | The Code is the PAN |
| Proof of the entity: partnership deed, certificate of incorporation, or the proprietor's own identity | Constitution |
| Proof of address of the registered office: a sale deed, rent or lease agreement, or a recent electricity, telephone or mobile bill in the entity's name | The address |
| Cancelled cheque or a bank certificate, in the entity's own name | The bank account |
| Digital signature or Aadhaar of the signatory | The submission |
Where the address proof is not in the applicant's name, a no-objection certificate from the person whose name it is in, with a copy of that person's own address proof, is accepted.
The annual updation, which nobody remembers
Every Importer-Exporter Code has to be updated once a year, between April and June, even if nothing has changed.
The Importer-Exporter Code
The consequence of not doing it is that the Code is deactivated, and a deactivated Code stops a consignment at the port as surely as no Code at all. It can be reactivated on updation, without penalty, but the shipment has already been delayed.
This is the single most useful practical fact in the topic, because it is the one that catches a business that took the Code years ago and has not looked at it since.
Modification and surrender
Modification. A change in the entity's name, address, constitution, bank account, or in its partners or directors, is filed on the portal against the same Code. There is no new number, because the PAN has not changed.
Surrender. Where the entity stops importing and exporting, it may surrender the Code on the portal. The Director General then informs the customs and licensing authorities and the Code is cancelled.
What the Code is used for
Every one of these asks for it:
- Customs clearance of an import, and the shipping bill for an export.
- The bank, for an inward or outward remittance for goods.
- Benefits under the foreign trade policy: duty drawback, the remission schemes, and the advance authorisation.
- Registration cum membership certificates with the export promotion councils.
The one-line answer
The Importer-Exporter Code is the PAN of the entity, issued as a certificate by the Director General of Foreign Trade under section 7 of the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act 1992, without which no person may make any import or export of goods; it is permanent, covers every branch, and must be updated once a year between April and June or it is deactivated.
The rest of this subject
These notes are cut from the University's printed syllabus. Open the syllabus itself, or the past papers, for the same subject.