GST council decides that inter-state e-way bill compulsory from Feb 1

Sanjeev Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, December 16

The 24th GST Council meeting held on Saturday decided that the inter-state e-way Bill will be made compulsory from February 1, 2018.

The system will be ready by January 16. The uniform system of e-way Bill for inter-state as well as intra-state movement will be implemented across the country by June 1.

Till such time as the national e-way Bill is ready, the states were authorised to continue their own separate e-way bill systems.
However, it was represented by the trade and transporters that this is causing undue hardship in the inter-state movement of goods and, therefore, bringing in an early all India system of e-way Bill has become a necessity.

The GST Council on Saturday reviewed the progress of readiness of hardware and software required for the introduction of nationwide e-way Bill system.

The nationwide e-way Bill system will be ready to be rolled out on a trial basis latest by January 16. Trade and transporters can start using this system on a voluntary basis from the stipulated date.

The rules for implementation of nationwide e-way Bill system for inter-state movement of goods on a compulsory basis will be notified with effect from February 1. This will bring uniformity across the states for seamless inter-state movement of goods.

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While the system for both inter-state and intra-state e-way Bill generation will be ready by January 16, the states may choose their own timings for implementation of e-way Bill for intra-state movement of goods on any date before June 1.

There are certain states which are already having system of e-way Bill for intra-state as well as inter-state movement and some of those states can be early adopters of national e-way Bill system for intra-state movement also.

An official statement said in any case, the uniform system of e-way Bill for inter-state as well as intra-state movement would be implemented across the country by June 1.