Development and promotion of export of scheduled products Act introduced the Agricultural & Processed Food Products Export Development Authority or commonly known as APEDA as a government organisation in the year 1985. The purpose of introducing APEDA was to make sure that all the schedule products get the required financial assistance, information as well as the guidelines for their development. The APEDA Act provides for certain products which are referred to as the Schedule Products. All the people who are involved in exporting these schedule products needs to have a registration as per the Act.

The main objective of the act was to increase the export of the schedule products. The Central Government regulates the body established under the Act who carries out the functions associated with the act. Along with that the Central Government also lays down certain rules and regulations for the efficient functioning of the Act.

The Procedure for registration under APEDA

In order to get a registration under the APEDA Act, it is important that as soon as the organisation starts their business, within a period of one month from that date they file an application form. Although the authorities do have a right to provide extension of that one - month period, but in such cases the applicant has to show reasonable cause for it.

As soon as the applicant files and pays for the registration, the established authorities will issue the applicant a Registration -Cum- Membership- Certificate (RCMC). It is important that all the registered members completely follow the rules and regulations laid down under the APEDA Act. The registration issued by the authorities is a one - time registration.

What are the documents required for getting a registration under APEDA?

The following documents will have to be submitted in order to get the registration:

1.      The Application form which has been duly signed.

2.      The import and export code copy which has been issues by the DGFT.

3.      A Bank Certificate which has been duly signed by the Authorities.

4.      A statement of the Bank Account which has been opened in the name of the firm and is at least two months old.

5.      A cancelled cheque.

The Advantages of APEDA Registration

Following are the advantages of getting a registration under APEDA:

1.      In case you have a business that deals with the export of the Schedule Products then getting the APEDA registration is a mandatory procedure.

2.      There are a lot of financial assistance scheme that the exporter can take advantage of under APEDA.

3.      The Exporters can also use it for their brand publicity by:

·         Surveys,

·         Packaging development,

·         Advertisement, and

·         Database up - gradation, etc.

4.      The Act also provides various guidelines that the exporters can use in order to know more about the products as well as the countries for export.

5.      APEDA also organises various training programmes for the registered members. This will help the exporters in improving their business.