Exporters seeking to avail duty concessions on shipments to the UK will have to adhere to the new British rules under the Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS).

In a trade notice, the Directorate General of Foreign Trade said that the United Kingdom (UK) has replaced its existing origin declaration process under Generalized Scheme of Preferences (GSP) with the UK DCTS effective from 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 trade notice to the exporters community said.

It added that goods that meet the UK DCTS Rules of Origin (RoO) requirements would be eligible to claim a concessional rate of import duty for exports to the UK.

"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 added.

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

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

The US, European Union (EU), Australia, Japan and many other developed countries grant unilateral import duty concessions to developing countries under their GSP schemes.

As per estimates, India's exports worth USD 2.5 billion were entitled for the GSP benefit in the UK.

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.