SEZ ACT UNLIKELY TO COME INTO FORCE BEFORE SEPT 1 Source: The Hindu Business Line
THE Special Economic Zones Act, 2005, is unlikely to come into force before September 1, a top Commerce Ministry official has said. Although the legislation received Presidential assent last month, this Act has so far not been operationalised. This is because the rules for implementing the legislation are yet to be in place. The Act has empowered the Centre to specify the date from which the law would come into force. "As far as the date for bringing the Act into force is concerned, I don't think it would be before September 1," Mr Gopal Pillai, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, said at a seminar on special economic zones jointly organised by the Export Promotion Council for EOUs and SEZ units (EPCES) and PricewaterhouseCoopers? (PwC). Mr Pillai said the Commerce Ministry was in the process of formulating the final draft rules and this would be put on the Ministry's Web site for public comments. He indicated that the final draft rules are likely to be ready by mid-August. Stating that rule making is going to take time in view of the complexity of the SEZ legislation, Mr Pillai also highlighted that a meeting of development commissioners of SEZs has been convened here next week to brainstorm the proposed rules. The EPCES Secretary-General, Mr L.B. Singhal, told Business Line that the development commissioners are to meet here on July 10-11 under the aegis of the EPCES. The Commerce Ministry has already received more than 400 pages of comments on the initial draft rules. These comments are now to be forwarded to the development commissioners. The SEZ Act, 2005, provides the umbrella legal framework for establishment of SEZs and also for units operating in such zones. An SEZ is a specifically delineated duty-free enclave that is deemed to be outside the customs territory of India. http://www.nalsartech.org/tikiwiki/tiki-read_article.php?articleId=5732 Comment on this article
