International Trade

RRG’s International Trade and Customs practice assists companies with international rules for exports and imports governing their businesses.

Our international trade team routinely works with other lawyers, international organisations, the Government of India and its various departments; including the Department of Commerce as well as other sovereign governments to service the needs of our clients. With offices in Mumbai, the commercial capital; and New Delhi, the administrative headquarters of the central government; we have access to both industry and regulators.

The team advises clients on a wide range of customs compliance matters, including the proper classification and valuation of imported goods, rules-of-origin, the establishment and operation of Free Trade Zones (FTZs) or Special Economic Zones (SEZ), duty remission and other export-import schemes and customs issues arising under the WTO Agreement and Foreign Trade Policy. The team also offers advice on tax structuring for investment and tax optimization for ongoing businesses. We also provide assistance in relation to policy formation, tariff rationalization and government advocacy.

We also assist clients with complex valuation issues, including issues relating to under-invoicing and over-invoicing issues, royalty payments and licensing arrangements and circumvention issues.

In addition to its considerable dispute settlement experience, our International Trade & Customs practice draws on its legal, economic and accounting expertise to advise corporations, industry associations and the Government of India on various aspects of trade and investment policy. The team routinely develops strategies to address trade policy problems that integrate legal, regulatory, commercial, and political considerations to offer our clients solutions without resorting to litigation.

Services

• Advisory on coverage under the regulations, and attendant compliances and/or procedures – this involves an analysis of the technical characteristics, end-use and/or end-user of the product, Customs HS codes, and precedents in terms of past license applications where available.
• Assistance with drafting, filing and follow up of applications and/or representations for clarification on coverage
• Assistance with applying for and obtaining export licences, where required, from the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) and/or the concerned Ministry and Department
• Review of business operations and transactions so as to identify risk areas (potential non-compliance) and suggest measures for risk mitigation
• Preparation of Standard Operating Procedure, including checklist for compliance, identification of broad approach for future risk assessment, outlining of decision process to be followed, and broad guidelines for supporting processes, including documentation and record keeping
• Advice and assistance on policy initiatives and representations before Governmental authorities
• Assisting companies in developing export compliance procedures and export management systems and procedure reviews;
• Advising companies on the export classification of their goods, technologies, software and services;
• Drafting of documents and filings before the Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of External Affairs and other allied Ministries;
• Drafting and vetting of Agreements to be export control compliant between parties;
• Guide companies through export controls due diligence in domestic and multinational transactions;
• Conduct internal training and draft manual on export compliance;
• Guidance on anti-bribery laws and international trade sanctions;
• Representation regarding import and export transactions and acquisitions of all kinds