Ministry of Home Affairs has issued Notification No. II/21022/23(12)/2020 in order to amend Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Rules, 2011 which shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.
Key points of the amendment made in Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Rules, 2011 are:
1. A New Sub Rule (2), under Rule 3 which is relating to Guidelines for declaration of an organization to be of a political nature, not being a political party, shall be inserted to provide that- (1) Front or mass organisations like Students Unions, Workers’ Unions, Youth Forums and Women’s wing of a political party and (2) Any organisation, by whatever name called, which habitually engages itself in or employs common methods of political action like ‘bandh’ or ‘hartal’, ‘rasta roko’, ‘rail roko’ or ‘jail bharo’ in support of public causes shall be considered to be of a political nature if they participate in active politics or party politics, as the case may be.
2. There has been a substitution in the wordings of Rule 6 relating to Intimation of receiving foreign contribution from relatives where it has been provided that any person receiving foreign contribution in excess of one lakh rupees or equivalent thereto in a financial year from any of his relatives shall inform the Central Government regarding the details of the foreign contribution received by him in electronic form in Form FC-1 within thirty days from the date of receipt of such contribution.
3. There has been a substitution in the wordings of sub Rule 1 of Rule 7 relating to Receiving foreign hospitality by specified categories of persons where it has been provided that any person belonging to any of the categories specified in section 6 who wishes to avail of foreign hospitality shall apply to the Central Government in electronic form in Form FC-2 for prior permission to accept such foreign hospitality.
4. There has been a substitution in the Sub Rule 1 and sub Rule 2 of Rule 9 relating to Application for obtaining ‘registration’ or ‘prior permission’ to receive foreign contribution which are as follows :
a) Clause (d) of Sub Rule 1 and sub Rule 2 has been substituted to provide that any person making an application for certificate of registration for acceptance of foreign contribution shall have an FCRA Account. Prior to the substitution, a person seeking such registration was required to open an exclusive bank account in order to receive the foreign contribution.
b) Under clause (a) and ( e) of the aforementioned sub rules, for the words “electronically online”, the words “in electronic form” shall be substituted.
c) A new clause (f) has been inserted after clause (e) of sub rule 1 in order to provide that A person seeking registration by making an application for grant of certificate or giving prior permission, which shall be made to the Central Government in such form and manner and along with such fee, as may be prescribed of the Act and shall meet the following conditions, namely:–
i. It shall be in existence for three years and have spent a minimum amount of rupees fifteen lakh on its core activities for the benefit of society during the last three financial years: Provided that the Central Government, in exceptional cases or in cases where a person is controlled by the Central Government or a State Government may waive the conditions;
ii. If the person wants inclusion of its existing capital investment in assets like land, building, other permanent structures, vehicles, equipment in the computation of its spending during last three years, then the chief functionary shall give an undertaking that the assets shall be vested henceforth with the person till the validity of the certificate and they shall be utilised only for the activities covered under the Act and the rules made thereunder and shall not be diverted for any other purpose till the validity of its certificate of registration remains valid.”
d) A new clause (f) has been inserted after clause (e) of sub rule 2 in order to provide that a person seeking prior permission for receipt of specific amount from a specific donor for carrying out specific activities or projects mentioned in clause (c) of sub-section (4) of section 12 of the Act shall meet the following criteria, namely
i. Submit a specific commitment letter from the donor indicating the amount of foreign contribution and the purpose for which it is proposed to be given
ii. For the Indian recipient persons and foreign donor organisations having common members, prior permission shall be granted to the person subject to it satisfying the following conditions, namely:
a. the chief functionary of the recipient person shall not be a part of the donor organization
b. seventy-five per cent. of the office-bearers or members of the governing body of the person shall not be members or employees of the foreign donor organization
c. in case of foreign donor organisation being a single individual that individual shall not be the chief functionary or office bearer of the recipient person; and
d. in case of a single foreign donor, seventy-five per cent. of the office bearers or members of the governing body of the recipient person shall not be the family members or close relatives of the donor.”
5. After sub rule 1 of Rule 9 relating to Application for obtaining ‘registration’ or ‘prior permission’ to receive foreign contribution, a new sub rule 1A has been inserted to provide that An application for certificate of registration by a person for acceptance of foreign contribution shall be made electronically online made before the commencement of these rules but not disposed of, shall be considered after furnishing the details of FCRA Account.
6. After sub rule 2 of Rule 9 relating to Application for obtaining ‘registration’ or ‘prior permission’ to receive foreign contribution, a new sub rule 2A has been inserted to provide that Every application for obtaining prior permission made before the commencement of these rules but not disposed of, shall be considered after furnishing the details of FCRA Account.”;
7. Sub Rule 4 of Rule 9 relating to Application for obtaining ‘registration’ or ‘prior permission’ to receive foreign contribution, the following clauses has been substituted
a) Clause (a) has been substituted to provide that An application made for the grant of prior permission shall be accompanied by a fee of rupees five thousand only, which shall be paid through the payment gateway specified by the Central Government. Prior to substitution, such application made for the grant of prior permission was accompanied by a fee of [Rs.3000/- (Three Thousand rupees only)].
b) Clause (b) has been substituted to provide that An application made for the grant of registration shall be accompanied by a fee of rupees ten thousand only, which shall be paid through the payment gateway specified by the Central Government.”. Prior to substitution, such application made for the grant of the registration shall be accompanied by a fee of [Rs.5000/- (Five Thousand rupees only)].
c) Clause (d) i.e. The fee, as applicable, shall be remitted by demand draft or banker’s cheque in favour of the “Pay and Accounts Officer, Ministry of Home Affairs”, payable at New Delhi [or through online electronic payment gateway as specified by the Central Government has been omitted.
8. After Rule 9 relating to Application for obtaining ‘registration’ or ‘prior permission’ to receive foreign contribution, a new Rule 9A has been inserted where Permission for receipt of foreign contribution in application for obtaining prior permission.– If the value of foreign contribution on the date of final disposal of an application for obtaining prior permission is over rupees one crore, the Central Government may permit receipt of foreign contribution in such instalments, as it may deem fit. It has been further provided that the second and subsequent instalment shall be released after submission of proof of utilisation of seventy five per cent. of the foreign contribution received in the previous instalment and after field inquiry of the utilisation of foreign contribution.
9. As per new Sub Rule 2 has been inserted after sub rule 1 under Rule 10 relating to Validity of certificate, where it has been provided that the validity of certificate surrendered under section 14A of the Act relating to Surrender of certificate, shall be deemed to have expired on the date of acceptance of the request by the Central Government.
10. Sub Rule 2 of Rule 12 relating to Renewal of registration certificate has been substituted to provide that An application for renewal of the certificate of registration shall be made to the Central Government in electronic form in Form FC-3C accompanied with an affidavit executed by each office bearer, key functionary and member in Proforma ‘AA’ appended to these rules within six months from the date of expiry of the certificate of registration.”
11. A new sub Rule 2A and 2A has been inserted after Rule 12 relating to Renewal of registration certificate in order to provide that Every person seeking renewal of the certificate of registration under section 16 of the Act shall open an FCRA Account and mention details of the account in his application for renewal of registration and Every application for renewal of the certificate of registration made under sub-rule (2) before commencement of these rules, but not disposed of, shall be considered after furnishing the details of FCRA Account.”;
12. Sub rule (4) of Rule 12 relating to Renewal of registration certificate has been substituted to provide that an application made for renewal of the certificate of registration shall be accompanied by a fee of rupees five thousand only, which shall be paid through payment gateway specified by the Central Government. Prior to this substitution, An application fees for the same was [Rs.1500/- (One Thousand Five Hundred rupees only).
13. Sub-rule (5) of Rule 12 relating to Renewal of registration certificate has been substituted to provide that No person whose certificate of registration has ceased to exist shall either receive or utilise the foreign contribution until the certificate is renewed.;.
14. Sub-rule (6) of Rule 12 has been substituted to provide that if no application for renewal of registration is received or the application is not accompanied by requisite fee before the expiry of the validity of the certificate of registration, the validity of the certificate of registration shall be deemed to have ceased from the date of completion of the period of five years from the date of the grant of certificate of registration.
15. A new Rule 6A has been inserted in order to provide that the amount of foreign contribution lying unutilised in the FCRA Account and utilisation account of a person whose certificate of registration is deemed to have ceased and assets, if any, created out of the foreign contribution, shall vest with the prescribed authority under the Act until the certificate is renewed or fresh registration is granted by the Central Government.
16. Rule 15 relating to Custody of foreign contribution in respect of a person whose certificate has been cancelled has been substituted to provide that if the certificate of registration of a person who has opened an FCRA Account under section 17 is cancelled, the amount of foreign contribution lying unutilised in that Account shall vest with the prescribed authority under the Act.”
17. A new Rule 15A i.e. Voluntary surrender of certificate has been inserted to provide that . — Every person who has been granted certificate of registration under section 12 of the Act may make an application in electronic form in Form FC-7 for surrender of the certificate of registration in terms of section 14A of the Act.”.
18. Rule 20 relating to Revision has been substituted to provide that An application for revision of an order passed by the competent authority under section 32 of the Act shall be made to the Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, New Delhi on a plain paper and it shall be accompanied by a fee of rupees three thousand only, which shall be paid through the payment gateway specified by the Central Government.”. Prior to substitution, the fees prescribed was Rs. 1000/- (One Thousand only).
19. Rule 21 relating to Compounding of offence has been substituted to provide that An application for compounding of an offence under section 41 may be made to the Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, New Delhi in electronic form and shall be accompanied by fee of rupees three thousand only, which shall be paid through the payment gateway specified by the Central Government.” Prior to substitution, the fees prescribed was Rs. 1000/- (One Thousand only)
20. Rule 23 relating to Authority to whom an application or intimation to be sent. has been substituted to provide that Any information or intimation about political or speculative activities of a person as mentioned in rule 3 or rule 4, shall be furnished to the Secretary to the Government of India in the Ministry of Home Affairs, New Delhi. Such information or intimation shall be sent by electronic form. Prior to substitution, such information was sent through registered post.
21. Rule 25 relating to Procedure for transferring foreign contribution to other registered or unregistered persons has been omitted.
22. Forms namely – FC-1, FC-2, FC-3A , FC-3B, FC-3C, FC-4, FC-6A, FC-6C and FC-6D, FC-6E and FC-7 has been substituted in order to incorporate the changes made.
For further details and substituted Forms, please refer the attached document.
Source: Ministry of Home Affairs
