MoF Revises the List of Designated Officers for Adjudication of Penalties under FEMA

Notification No. S.O. 2128(E), Dated 08.05.2023

The Ministry of Finance has updated the list of designated officers of the Directorate of Enforcement responsible for holding an inquiry for the purpose of imposing penalty u/s 13 of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999.

Section 13 of the FEMA covers penalties for contravention of any provision, rule, regulation, notification, order or direction issued by RBI. It also covers the penalty provisions relating to assets held outside India in contravention of section 4 of the Act.
Further, the Ministry of Finance has reduced the number of designated officers from 7 to 5. As per the amended norms, the Director of Enforcement and Principal Special Director of Enforcement will no longer be required to carry out any adjudication proceedings u/s 13 of the FEMA.

Also, the notification has revised the monetary limits for Additional Directors of Enforcement and Joint Directors of Enforcement. They are now authorised to investigate cases involving an amount up to Rs 25 crores but not less than Rs 5 crores.

Earlier, the Additional Director of Enforcement was authorised to investigate cases involving an amount up to Rs 25 crores but not less than 10 crores, while the Joint Director was authorised to investigate cases involving an amount of up to Rs 10 crores but not less than Rs 5 crores.

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