Ahead of the India-UK free trade agreement coming into force on July 15, India has notified the procedure for importers to seek approvals for quota-based imports of passenger cars and goods vehicles at concessional import duties from the UK. Under the India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), India has agreed to undertake a phased reduction of import duties on automotive imports, from around 110 per cent to 10 per cent, subject to agreed tariff quotas.
India has committed to allowing imports of up to 3.78 lakh conventional-engine passenger cars from the UK at the concessional duty over the first 15 years of the pact.
“Procedure for allocation of tariff rate quotas under India-UK (CETA) is notified…Only original equipment manufacturers, dealers/channel partners duly authorised by the OEMs of vehicles originating in the UK shall be eligible to apply for the TRQ,” said the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) in a public notice dated July 9.
pre-purchase deal
At the time of clearance of the import consignment, the importer in India has to produce a certificate of origin issued by authorities concerned in the UK, the notification specified. To be eligible for the concessional duties, each applicant will have to submit a pre-purchase agreement issued by an OEM of the vehicles in the UK, setting out the quantity of vehicles agreed to be supplied to the applicant during the TRQ year.
