1. Short title and commencement.—(1) This Act may be called the Foreign Trade (Development
and Regulation) Act, 1992.
(2) Sections 11 to 14 shall come into force at once and the remaining provisions of this Act shall be
deemed to have come into force on the 19th day of June, 1992.
2. Definitions.—In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—
(a) “Adjudicating Authority” means the authority specified in, or under, section 13;
(b) “Appellate Authority” means the authority specified in, or under, sub-section (1) of
section 15;
(c) “conveyance” means any vehicle, vessel, aircraft or any other means of transport including
any animal;
(d) “Director General” means the Director General of Foreign Trade appointed under section 6;
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[(e) “import” and “export” means,—
(I) in relation to goods, bringing into, or taking out of, India any goods by land, sea or air;
(II) in relation to services or technology,—
(i) supplying, services or technology—
(A) from the territory of another country into the territory of India;
(B) in the territory of another country to an Indian service consumer;
(C) by a service supplier of another country, through commercial presence in India;
(D) by a service supplier of another country, through presence of their natural
persons in India;
(ii) supplying, services or technology—
(A) from India into the territory of any other country;
(B) in India to the service consumer of any other country;
(C) by a service supplier of India, through commercial presence in the territory of any
other country;
1. Subs. by Act 25 of 2010, s. 2, for clause (e) (w.e.f.27-8-2010).
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(D) by a service supplier of India, through presence of Indian natural persons in the
territory of any other country:
Provided that “import” and “export” in relation to the goods, services and technology regarding
Special Economic Zone or between two Special Economic Zones shall be governed in accordance
with the provisions contained in the Special Economic Zones Act, 2005 (28 of 2005).]
(f) “Importer-exporter Code Number” means the Code Number granted under section 7;
(g) “licence” means a licence to import or export and includes a customs clearance permit and
any other permission issued or granted under this Act;
(h) “Order” means any Order made by the Central Government under section 3; and
(i) “prescribed” means prescribed by rules made under this Act.
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[(j) “services” means service of any description which is made available to potential users and
includes all the tradable services specified under the General Agreement on Trade in Services entered
into amongst India and other countries who are party to the said Agreement:
Provided that, this definition shall not apply to the domain of taxation;
(k) “service supplier” means any person who supplies a service and who intends to take benefit
under the foreign trade policy;
(l) “specified goods or services or technology” means the goods or services or technology, the
export, import, transfer, re-transfer, transit and transshipment of which is prohibited or restricted
because of imposition of conditions on the grounds of their being pertinent or relevant to India as a
Nuclear Weapon State, or to the national security of India, or to the furtherance of its foreign policy
or its international obligations under any bilateral, multilateral or international treaty, covenant,
convention or arrangement relating to weapons of mass destruction or their means of delivery to
which India is a party or its agreement with a foreign country under the foreign trade policy
formulated and notified under section 5 of the Act;
(m) “technology” means any information (including information embodied in software), other
than information in the public domain, that is capable of being used in—
(i) the development, production or use of any goods or software;
(ii) the development of, or the carrying out of, an industrial or commercial activity or the
provision of service of any kind.
Explanation.—For the purpose of this clause—
(a) when technology is described wholly or partly by reference to the uses to which it (or the
goods to which it relates) may be put, it shall include services which are provided or used, or
which are capable of being used in the development, production or use of such technology or
goods;
(b) “public domain” shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in clause (i) of section 4 of
the Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery System (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities)
Act, 2005 (21 of 2005).]