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Joint Paper on Enabling Data Transfers for India-UK Digital Trade
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NASSCOM, UK India Business Council (UKIBC) and TechUK have released a Joint Position Paper on Enabling Data Transfers for India-UK Digital Trade aimed at promoting data protection in both countries while enabling free flow of data in the UK-India corridor. It offers specific suggestions to both governments to commit to the protection of personal information via adequate and comprehensive legal regimes and ensure that measures restricting data transfers are least onerous and in furtherance of public policy, national security, or strategic objectives. |
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Haryana: Representation on Contract Labour Challenges |
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On May 17, 2022, NASSCOM made a representation to the Haryana Labour Department and highlighted the challenges being faced by the industry in getting Contract Labour Regulation and Abolition (CLRA) licenses. In our representation, we suggested that requirement of seeking certified copies of the standing order for the purpose of CLRA applications should not be made mandatory. We further highlighted that other than Haryana, no other State has imposed such a requirement on the tech industry. For more details, kindly write to deepak@nasscom.in and asaggarwal@nasscom.in. |
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Special Economic Zones (SEZ): Representation seeking extension of Work from Home relaxations |
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We are actively engaging with the Ministry of Commerce for making necessary amendments in the SEZ regulations towards enabling permanent hybrid working model. Earlier in the month, based on a survey, we submitted a detailed report to the Government highlighting the positive impact of the remote working models on productivity on the tech companies based in SEZs. Additionally, we also wrote to the State SEZ authorities, seeking further extension of the current work from home relaxations beyond June 30, 2022, to enable industry to follow hybrid working models. On May 27, 2022, the Noida SEZ Authority issued a circular to extend the facility to work remotely till December 2022.For more details, kindly write to deepak@nasscom.in and asaggarwal@nasscom.in. |
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Delhi: Representation seeking 24x7 operations for e-commerce and warehousing entities
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We made a representation to the Government of NCT Delhi seeking blanket permission for e-commerce and warehousing entities to carry out operations 24x7 in the State. We also suggested that such entities should be allowed to employ women in night shifts subject to certain safety and security conditions. For more details, kindly write to deepak@nasscom.in and garima@nasscom.in. |
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Labour Reforms: Submission on Karnataka Code on Occupational, Safety, Health and Working Conditions (OSHW)Rules |
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We submitted our response to the Labour Department of Karnataka on the Karnataka OSHW Rules. In our submission, we proposed deletion of certain mandatory particulars such as Aadhaar, ESIS/UAN etc. from the appointment letter. We also recommended changes in the daily working hours limit to enable employers to adopt flexible work models including providing flexibility to employers to provide notices to workers in an electronic medium. For more details, kindly write to deepak@nasscom.in and asaggarwal@nasscom.in. |
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Labour Reforms: Feedback on Tamil Nadu State Rules
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We made submissions to Tamil Nadu State Rules on Code on Wages, Code on Industrial Relations (IR) and the Code on Occupational, Safety, Health and Working Conditions Rules, 2022 (OSHW). Amongst several recommendations, some of the key suggestions that we made regarding each of these Rules include; a) the need to have flexibility (under IR Rules) for establishments having existing well-established mechanisms in place towards maintaining amity between the employer and the employee to setup Grievance Redressal Mechanism and Work Committee; b) flexibility in daily working hours limit (under the OSHW Rules) to enable employers to adopt flexible work models; c) removal of certain mandatory fields such as Aadhaar number, father names etc., from the wage slips (under the Wage Rules). For more details, kindly write to deepak@nasscom.in and asaggarwal@nasscom.in. |
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Ministry of Environment: Amending the Hazardous Waste Management Rules
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We submitted a representation to Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC) seeking amendment to the Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016 (HWM Rules) to allow imported refurbished spare parts to be used for all types of repair services. We highlighted that this would enable the industry to cut unnecessary expenses and operate in a manner that they remain competitive in the international markets. We also suggest that the industry will continue to re-export the equivalent number of defective parts, to address the potential concern of accumulating un-usable spares in India. For more information, kindly write to garima@nasscom.in. |
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GST: Representation highlighting issues faced due to registration requirement as Input Service Distributor for common expenses incurred on behalf of branch office
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As per a recent ruling by Maharashtra Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling, facilitation of common input service by head office (HO) from third party vendors on behalf of branch offices shall be treated as "supply of service". However, the GST law does not mandate companies to adopt Input Service Distributor (ISD) mechanism i.e., obtaining a separate registration for distribution of Input Tax Credit (ITC) in respect of common services to Branch Offices (BO) across the country. Moreover, due to the limitations associated with ISD mechanism like increased compliances and admin cost, many taxpayers follow cross-charge mechanism. In this regard, we made a representation to GST Officials on May 20, 2022, recommending that management oversight or stewardship services should not be liable to GST and cross-charge or ISD transfer should be available as an option to taxpayers. |
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GST: Representation on taxability of import of free of cost software from related party
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GST law provides a deeming provision whereby import of services by a person from a related person outside India is considered as supply even when made without consideration. As a result, GST is applicable on supply/access to services from overseas entities/ affiliates on free of cost basis for the recipient in India under reverse charge mechanism. In this regard, we have made a submission to Ministry of Finance (MoF) highlighting that access to software provided by overseas affiliates to Indian companies is for the limited purpose of enabling provision of services back to the overseas affiliate and not for any other purposes. We have requested the government to issue a circular to clarify that deeming fiction would be applicable only to taxpayers who are not eligible to avail full input tax credit. |
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National Health Authority (NHA): Feedback on Health Data Management Policy 2.0
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We submitted our feedback to NHA on its stakeholder consultation on draft Health Data Management Policy 2.0 (draft Policy). Our key suggestions include amongst others - a) for the purposes of the draft Policy, the definition of sensitive personal data must be narrow; b) the broad requirements for local storage of all personal data within geographical boundaries in India should be removed; and c) the NHA should identify risks in dealing with non-personal data and require entities to ensure that those risks are addressed. |
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Reserve Bank of India (RBI): Representation on allowing 'In-App' notifications by regulated entities
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We made a representation to RBI on allowing In-App notifications by RBI regulated entities (REs) for safe and secure transmission of information related to any account-based transactions of a customer. Alternatively, we also recommended that the RBI could consider defining what all a notification shall entail and amend its circulars requiring REs to send SMS-based alerts to its customers. In our representation, we suggested a phased approach, and suggestions on safeguards which may be placed for In-App notifications. |
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Government of Rajasthan: Submission of Draft Rajasthan Virtual Online Sports (Regulation) Bill, 2022
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We submitted our response to Government of Rajasthan’s stakeholder consultation on the draft Rajasthan Virtual Online Sports (Regulation) Bill, 2022 (draft Bill). In our submission, we noted that - a) considering the nature of online gaming, collaboration between the central and state government is needed to regulate online gaming; and b) to provide regulatory certainty to the gaming industry, there must be a central framework enlisting certain elements such as age-rating, KYC processes, taxation processes etc. |
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