. /.  WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
G/C/W/651 
WT/COMTD/N/38 
12 September 2011 
 (11-4388) 
Council for Trade in Goods  
Committee on Trade and Development  Original:   English 
 
 
NOTIFICATION OF PREFERENTIAL TARIFF TREATMENT FOR LDCS (AS PER 
PARAGRAPH 2 OF WT/L/304 AND WT/L/759) AND TRANSPARENCY MECHANISM FOR 
PREFERENTIAL TRADE ARRANGEMENTS (AS PER WT/L/806 AND WT/COMTD/73) 
 
 
1. Notifying Member:   INDIA 
2. Date of notification:   5 September 2011 
3. Notification provision in the Transp arency Mechanism for Preferential Trade 
Arrangements (WT/L/806): 
[ ] Paragraph 1(a)  (PTAs falling under paragraph 2 of the Enabling Clause, with the exception of 
paragraph 2(c))  
[X] Paragraph 1(b)  
(PTAs taking the form of preferential treatmen t accorded by any Member to products of 
least-developed countries)  
[  ] Paragraph 1(c)   
(Any other non-reciprocal preferential trea tment to products authorised under the WTO 
Agreement)   
4. Number of beneficiaries (including of any sub-schemes):   48 Least Developed Countries 
5. Date of entry into force:   13 August 2008  
6. Date of last renewal (if applicable): not applicable  
7. Brief description of the Preferential Trade Arrangement:    
India's Duty Free Quota Free (DFQF) Scheme is  unilateral non reciprocal tariff preference 
scheme for Least Developed Countries.  The sch eme is operational sin ce August 2008 in the 
name of Duty Free Tariff Preference (DFTP) scheme.  Under the scheme:  
(i) On 4,430 items (at 6-digit HS code leve l), which constitutes 85% of total tariff 
lines, India will eliminate Customs duties over a period of 5 years through equal annual reductions.  
(ii) On 468 products (at 6-digit HS code leve l), constituting about 9% of total tariff 
lines, India will reduce preferential duties on the basis of a prescribed margin of 
preference (MoP) over a period of 5 years through equal annual reductions.  The 
MoP would be available on the applied ra te of duty as on the date of imports.  G/C/W/651 
WT/COMTD/N/38 Page 2 
 
 
    
(iii) 326 tariff lines (at 6-digit HS code level) , are in the Exclusion List constituting 
about 6% of total tariff lines.  There woul d be no customs tariff reductions on these 
lines.  
The Scheme provides that in order to ava il benefits under the Scheme, individual LDC 
members would submit to the Government of Indi a a Letter of Intent and details of officials 
who would be responsible for issuing Certifi cate of Origin.  Individual LDC members are 
simply required to forward these two documen ts along with a request letter to the 
Government of India to become the beneficiary. 
The Scheme has been made operational vide  Customs Notifications No. 96/2008-Customs 
and 100/2008-Customs (Non-Tariff) dated 13th August, 2008.  Subsequent notifications 
issued are 99/2008, 113/2008, 7/2009, 24/2009, 45/2009, 59/2009, 86/2009, 63/2010, 
64/2010, 67/2010, 95/2010, 121/2010 and 45/2011.  All these notifications are available in 
the Government of India (Central Board of Excise & Customs) website http://cbec.gov.in . 
The two master notifications 96/2008 and 100/2008 can be downloaded from: 
http://cbec.gov.in./customs/cs-act/notifications/notfns-2k8/cs96-2k8.htm ; and 
http://cbec.gov.in./customs/cs-act/notifications/notfns-2k8/csnt100-2k8.htm   respectively. 
 
8. Text and any related instruments (e.g. regul ations, annexes, schedules, protocols) are: 
[ ] submitted to the WTO Secretariat (electronic format) 
[X] available from the following official Internet link(s): 
http://www.cbec.gov.in/customs/cs-act/notifications/notfns-2k8/cs96-2k8.htm  and 
http://commerce.gov.in/trade/international_tpp_DFTP.pdf