New Delhi, Sep 6 (KNN) The government has made it mandatory for traders to register themselves with Steel Import Monitoring System to import 215 iron and steel products, according to Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT).

In a notification, DGFT said “Import policy for these 215 items has been revised from ‘free’ to ‘free’ subject to compulsory registration under SIMS”.

It said that the SIMS will require importers to submit advance information in an online system for import of these items and obtain an automatic registration number by paying registration fee of Rs 1 per  thousand subject to minimum of Rs 500/ and maximum of Rs 1 lakh on CIF value.

The importer can apply for registration not earlier than 60th day and not later than 15th day before the expected date of arrival of import consignment,” it added.

The automatic registration number thus granted will remain valid for a period of 75 days.

The importer will have to enter the registration number and expiry date of registration in the bill of entry to enable customs to clear consignment.

The facility of online registration will be available from September 16 this year.