Electronic filing and Issuance of Registration cum Membership Certificate (RCMC)

The Director-General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) issued Trade Notice No.27/2021-2022 for Electronic filing of Registration Cum Membership Certificate (RCMC) or Registration Certificate (RC) with effect from December 06, 2021. With this Trade Notice, DGFT informed that the new Common Digital Platform for Issuance of RCMC/RC has been developed which would be single-point access for all exporters & importers.

Registration-Cum-Membership Certificate (RCMC)

RCMC (Registration Cum Membership Certificate) is a membership certificate issued for 5 years by Export Promotional Councils or commodity board of India. This certificate is issued as proof that any particular exporter is registered with the council. Earlier an exporter desiring to obtain an RCMC has to file an application in Form ANF 2C with the concerned Export Promotional Council (EPC) and declare his mainstream business in the application. There are 26 Export promotion councils and 9 commodities boards in India. Export Promotional Councils (EPC) and Commodities board in India are the authorities for issuing the RCMC. Each of the Export Promotion Councils and commodities board in India categories itself according to the type of products. Further, in case the product line of the exporter does not fall under the category, then he might apply for RCMC from FIEO. With this Trade Notice, DGFT informed that a new Common Digital Platform for Issuance of RCMC/RC has been developed which would be single-point access for all exporters & importers.

Validity of RCMC

RCMC is valid from 1st April of the licensing year when it is issued and is valid for five years that ends on 31st March of the licensing year. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, DGFT had extended the validity of RCMC till 30^th September 2021.

Common Digital Platform for Electronic filing of RCMC

As mentioned above, The common digital platform is single-point access for e-filing of RCMC/RC for all exporters/importers and Issuing agencies. This Common Digital Platform is designed to provide an electronic, contact-less single window for the RCMC/RC-related processes including Application for Fresh/ Amendment/ Renewal of RCMC/ RC.
The Common Digital Platform for Electronic filing of RCMC shall be available at https://dgft.gov.in.

Electronic filing of RCMC/RC

Applications for RCMC/ RC may be submitted through the common platform with effect from December 06, 2021.

Submitting applications on this online platform shall not be mandatory for the exporters in the immediate and there shall be a transition period for issuing agencies as well as Exporters to onboard this common digital platform.
The authenticity of the online issue shall be verifiable by login into the exporter profile on the official website of DGFT.

The details for RCMC/ RC issued using the DGFT portal will be reflected instantly in the profile of the exporter.

Manual submission of RCMC/RC Applications

The existing procedure of submitting applications directly to the designated issuing agency shall also be in operation in parallel during this transition period.
Submission and issuance of RCMC/ RC by the issuing agencies through their system may continue up to February 28, 2022, or until further orders

Important Announcement for exporters

Concerning the process being notified, DGFT announced the following important announcement for interested Indian exporters:

The Digital Signature Certificate (DSC)/Aadhaar would be necessary for the purpose of electronic application filing.
The digital signature would be the same as used in other DGFT applications, and no separate registration is required for availing of the RCMC/ RC service from the DGFT Portal.
Already registered exporters/importers can avail of the service using the same login credentials.