New Delhi, Aug 10 (KNN) To improve ease of doing business further, the requirement of Digital Signature for submitting Import Export Code (IEC) application has been done away with.

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has said for Services Exports, Import Export Code shall be necessary as per the provisions in Chapter 3 only when the service provider is taking benefits under the Foreign Trade Policy.

There is a provision that no import-export shall be made by any person without obtaining an Importer-Exporter Code (IEC) number unless specifically exempted.

Now the application process for IEC is completely online and IEC can be generated by the applicant as per the procedure detailed in the Handbook of Procedure.

Earlier, application for obtaining IEC may be filed online in ANF 2A with applicable fees and submitted with digital signature.

Now, the procedure for filling online application for IEC/ modification in IEC/e-IEC has been laid down.

IEC will henceforth be system generated and an applicant will have the facility of taking a print out of IEC. Further, a requirement of Digital Signature for submitting IEC application has been done away with. (KNN Bureau)