The Directorate General of Foreign Trade on 27th July 2022 issued a clarification with regard to Non-Ferrous Metal Import Monitoring System (“NFMIMS”). DGFT in its earlier notification dated 31st March 2021, amended the import policy of items of copper falling in Chapter-74 of ITC (HS) and items of Aluminum falling in Chapter-76 of ITC (HS) from ‘Free’ to ‘Free subject to compulsory registration under Non-Ferrous Metal Import Monitoring System (NFMIMS), DGFT has received various representations from members of Trade & Industry seeking clarification on NFMIMS.
Therefore DGFT has clarified that NFMIMS will not be applicable on air-freighted goods as this mode is used for emergency/small volume high-value goods required at short notice and any number of consignments can be imported by a single NFMIMS registration with the validity of the registration.
Further DGFT has clarified that the information relating to proper quality control order (QCO) description can be treated as optional category in the description filed by importer under NFMIMS. Since the QCO information is optional information therefore, it is not mandatory for the custom officer to check QCO description under NFMIMS. However custom officer has to consider the provisions/rules under other laws of the land at the time of clearing the bill of entries.
