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UAE CEPA at Annexure-'A' to this Petition in accordance with Annexure-IV under Appendix-2A to Hand Book of Procedures-2023 at Annexure-'B' to this Petition;

NEUTRAL CITATION C/SCA/9206/2025 ORDER DATED: 17/07/2025 undefined

3 The brief facts of the case are as under:

3.1 The Government of India and the Government of United Arab Emirates have signed Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (for short CEPA) on 18.02.2022. Thereafter, on 30.04.2022, the Department of Revenue in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-

section (1) of section 25 of the Customs Act, 1962, issued Notification No. 22/2022-Customs to give the effect to the first tranche of India-UAE CEPA, wherein, inter alia NEUTRAL CITATION C/SCA/9206/2025 ORDER DATED: 17/07/2025 undefined condition requiring importer to be Jewellery manufacturer for import of gold was stated. 3.2 Thereafter, on 01.05.2022, CEPA was entered into and Director General of Foreign Trade issued the Public Notice No. 06/2015-2020 dated 01.05.2022 amending para 2.107 of the Handbook of Procedure 2015-2020 and Appendix-2A of Hand Book of Procedure 2015-2020 to incorporate the items mentioned under Tariff Rate Quota under India-UAE CEPA by way of Annexure-IV to Appendix-2A, wherein, inter alia condition that Jewellery manufacturer should have an average annual turnover of Rs.25 crores over the last three financial years for import of the gold was stated.

3.6 Thereafter, the DGFT issued Public Notice No. 12/2023 dated 28.04.2023, stating to allot minimum lot size of 5 kgs to all the applicants subject to downward revision in case of the number of eligible applicants is higher.

3.7 In the meeting held on 18.05.2023, it was recorded that allocation has been made in the multiples of the minimum lot size of 5 kgs. It appears from the minutes of the meeting held on 18.05.2023, that about 341 importers were allocated the quota for the Financial Year 2023-24. 3.8 For the allotment of the Tariff Rate Quota under the India-UAE CEPA for the Financial Year 2024-25, meeting NEUTRAL CITATION C/SCA/9206/2025 ORDER DATED: 17/07/2025 undefined of the DGFT was held on 15.04.2024 and the minutes were recorded to the effect that the applicants who are not qualified jewellers and have no prior importers shall also be allocated 80 kgs of tariff quota for import. 3.9 Thereafter, the petitioner made an application on 24.01.2025 for the Tariff Rate Quota under the India-UAE CEPA for allocation of 850 kgs of gold bars. The DGFT in anticipation of the large number of applications against the limited available Tariff Rate Quota, sought mandatory information from the applicant through Trade Notice No.30/2024-25 dated 12.02.2025 to furnish the details of the turnover of the last three financial years. The petitioner therefore submitted the requisite details along with the CA Certificate on 24.02.2025. 3.10 Thereafter, in the meeting of the respondent No.2, DGFT, held on 29.04.2025, for the Financial Year 2025-26 recorded the decision as under:

Effect of this Public Notice: Condition (g) regarding manufacturer requirement for import of Gold under HS code 7108 under the TRQ of India UAE CEPA has been waived off in sync with Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue) Notification, No. 20/2023-Customs dated 31st March 2023."

8 Considering the above facts, it appears that the NEUTRAL CITATION C/SCA/9206/2025 ORDER DATED: 17/07/2025 undefined allocation of the Tariff Rate Quota is nothing but the policy decision of the respondent government which only makes the petitioner eligible to make an applicatin for allotment of the Tariff Rate Quota under the India-UAE CEPA. However, at the same time, as per the norms it is for the DGFT to allocate such quota considering the number of applications made for allocation. For the Financial Year 2025-26, the meeting was held on 29.04.2025 of the Exim Facilitation Committee of the DGFT to discuss the allocation of the Tariff Rate Quota under the India-UAE CEPA and after considering the availability of the quota for quantity for allocation of the applicants, the Committee noticed that a large number of applications have been received against the limited available quota and mandatory information was already sought by the Trade Notice No 30/2024-25 on 12.02.2025 requiring the applicants to provide trunover details for the past three years and the current year relating to the Jewellery manufactured and the Jewellery traded and after receipt of such data, the respondent No.2 -