Ministry of Commerce notifies the Special Economic Zones (Third Amendment) Rules, 2022; SEZ Units may permit 50% of employees to work from home or any place outside the Special Economic Zone, subject to prescribed conditions
With a view to further amend the Special Economic Zones Rules, 2006 (“Principal Rules”), the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (“Ministry”) has issued the Special Economic Zones (Third Amendment) Rules, 2022 (“Amendment”). The Amendment has gained effect since 14th July, 2022.
The Ministry has introduced a provision wherein a unit may permit the following employees to work from home or from any place outside the Special Economic Zone subject to compliance with prescribed conditions:
a. employees of Information Technology and Information Technology enabled Services Special Economic Zone units;
b. employees, who are temporarily incapacitated;
c. employees, who are travelling; and
d. employees, who are working offsite
Compliance obligations to permit employees to work from home or any place outside the Special Economic Zone:
• The Unit shall submit its proposal for work from home to the Development Commissioner through email or make a physical application containing the terms and conditions of work from home, including the date from which the permission for work from home shall be utilised and the details of the employees to be covered by such permission for work from home;
• Proposal for permission of work from home or an application for extension of the permission shall be submitted, at least fifteen days in advance, to the Development Commissioner, except in case of the employees who are temporarily incapacitated or travelling;
• The proposal for work from home may cover a maximum of fifty per cent of the total employees of the Unit, including contractual employees;
• The Unit is required to maintain accurate attendance record for the entire period of permission for work from home and submit the same to the Development Commissioner, from time to time;
• Where the employees of a Unit are working from home or from any place outside the Special Economic Zone on the date of commencement of the Special Economic Zones (Third Amendment) Rules, 2022, the Unit is required to submit its proposal for permission to the Development Commissioner within ninety days from the date of commencement;
• The work to be performed by the employee permitted to work from home shall be as per the services approved for the Unit, and the work should be related to a project of the Unit;
• The Unit may provide to an employee such goods, including laptop, computer, video projection system, other electronic equipment and secured connectivity (for virtual private network, virtual desktop infrastructure) to establish a connection between the employee and work related to the project of the unit with the prior permission of the Specified Officer to temporarily remove such goods to the Domestic Tariff Area without payment of duty or integrated goods and services tax, subject to the following:
a. the unit shall account for the goods removed temporarily;
b. the unit shall issue a certificate authorising the employee by name and giving the full specification, namely, serial number and model number and make of the equipment intended to be taken;
c. outside the processing area temporarily and a copy of the certificate shall be endorsed to the Specified Officer and acknowledgement received by the Unit;
d. the Unit shall maintain a record of such certificate of authorisation issued for temporary removal of equipment;
A Copy of the Notification is linked below for your ease of reference.
