Indian exporters who want to avail the duty concessions on their shipments to the UK have to adhere to Britain’s new rules under their Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS), the Directorate General of Foreign Trade said Monday.

The has replaced its existing origin declaration process under Generalized Scheme of Preferences (GSP) with the UK DCTS effective June 19, 2023.

The transition period for this change was extended until December 31, 2023.

“Starting from January 1, 2024 onwards, Indian exporters to the UK are required to adhere to the new rules under DCTS to avail
concessions on their exports to the UK,” the DGFT said in a trade notice.

Labour-intensive sectors such as leather, carpets, chemicals, iron amd steel and textiles were the major beneficiaries of the GSP scheme.

Consequently, the origin criteria necessary for satisfying the Rules of Origin to avail tariff concessions on exports from India to the UK must be filled in through self-certification, it said.

Accordingly Indian exporters are directed to use origin declaration wording under DCTS scheme, in place of origin declaration wording under GSP.

India and the UK have been negotiating a free trade agreement since January 13, 2021. As many as 14 rounds of talks have been completed and both sides are aiming to conclude the negotiations at the earliest.