The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) on June 02, 2026, notified regarding the mechanism for seeking clarification on the interpretation of Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) provisions from DGFT.
The following has been stated:
• The CBIC instruction has been issued to ensure uniform interpretation and implementation of Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) provisions across Customs formations. It notes that some Customs field offices have been directly approaching DGFT Headquarters or Regional Authorities for clarifications on FTP provisions, leading to inconsistent practices, delays in clearance, and inconvenience to trade.
• Under the new instructions, Customs field formations shall not directly correspond with DGFT for policy clarifications. Any interpretational issue should first be examined at the Commissionerate or Zonal level, and only matters requiring policy-level clarification should be referred to the CBIC Board through the concerned Principal Chief Commissioner/Chief Commissioner. Further, commodity-specific issues shall be examined and approved by the relevant National Assessment Centre (NAC) before being referred to the Board.
• Every reference sent to the Board shall contain details such as the facts of the case, relevant FTP provisions, the field formation's interpretation, specific clarification sought, number of affected cases, status of pending consignments, and urgency category. The instruction also emphasizes that consignments should not be held up solely because of FTP interpretation issues. Wherever legally permissible, officers should use provisional assessment or other facilitative mechanisms under the Customs Act, 1962, to avoid disruption of legitimate import and export trade.
[Notification no. - Instruction No. 07/2026-Customs]
