Rule 43A - Hybrid working - Special Economic Zones Rules, 2006

3 [ 43A. Hybrid working.- (1) A Unit may, as per its requirements, permit its employees, specified in sub-rule (2), to work from any place outside the Special Economic Zone in accordance with this rule. (2) The following employees are covered under sub-rule (1), - (i) employees of Information Technology Units and Information Technology enabled services; (ii) employees, who are temporarily incapacitated; (iii) employees, who are travelling; and (iv) employees, who are working offsite. (3) The permission granted under sub-rule (1) shall be applicable up to the 31st December, 2024. (4) The facility for hybrid work may cover all the employees of the Unit. (5) Where a Unit permits its employees for hybrid work under this rule, it shall intimate the same to the Development Commissioner through an e-mail on or before the date on which the facility for hybrid work is permitted. (6) The Unit shall not be required to submit the lists of employees who are allowed hybrid work but shall maintain the lists of employees who have been permitted hybrid work in the Unit and it shall be submitted for verification whenever is required by the Development Commissioner. (7) The hybrid work facility shall be admissible if the Unit continues to operate from the premises as per their letter of approval. (8) The work to be performed by the employee permitted hybrid work under this rule shall be as per the services approved for the Unit, and the work is related to a project of the Unit. (9) The Unit shall ensure export revenue of the resultant products or services to be accounted for by the Unit to which the employee is permitted for hybrid work. (10) Where an employee ceases to be part of the project of the Unit, the employee shall be relived from the Unit and the Unit shall surrender the identity card as per the provisions of sub-rule (2) of rule 70. (11) The Unit may provide to an employee duty-free goods, including laptop, desktop, and other electronic equipment needed by the employee for hybrid work and the same shall be allowed to be taken outside the Special Economic Zone without payment of duty or integrated goods and services tax on temporary basis: Provided that the Units while opting for hybrid work facility shall ensure that such duty-free goods are duly accounted for in the appropriate records as per the extant rules and are available for verification, if necessary. (12) Notwithstanding anything in sub-rule (1) of rule 50, the temporary removal of such duty-free goods shall be allowed for a period commensurate with the validity of the facility for hybrid work: Provided that if a Unit fails to bring back the duty-free goods into the Special Economic Zone within the period specified in this sub-rule, the duty applicable on such goods shall be paid by the Unit. (13) In this rule, - (a) the expression employees shall include all persons employed on the rolls of the Unit or under a direct contract or where the Unit is the principal employer under a contract with another organisation where such persons are expected to report on a day-to-day basis for work to the Unit and the Unit administers the control on their attendance; (b) the expression Hybrid working refers to a flexible work model whereby an employer may permit its employees to work from office or from any location outside the employer's office from time to time. ] ************** NOTES:- 1. Inserted vide Notification No. G.S.R. 576 (E) dated 14-07-2022 2. Substituted vide Notification No. G.S.R. 868(E) dated 08-12-2022 before it was read as, 1 [ 43A. Work from Home. (1) An Unit may permit its employees, including contractual employees, specified in sub-rule (2), to work from home or from any place outside the Special Economic Zone in accordance with this rule. (2) The following employees of an Unit are covered under sub-rule (1),- (i) employees of the Information Technology and Information Technology enabled Services Special Economic Zone units; (ii) employees, who are temporarily incapacitated; (iii) employees, who are travelling; and (iv) employees, who are working offsite. (3) The Unit shall submit its proposal for work from home to the Development Commissioner through email or physical application, which shall contain 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. (4) The Development Commissioner, on receipt of the proposal under sub-rule (3), if satisfied that the proposal complies with this rule, may grant the permission to the proposal of the Unit which shall be valid for a period of one year from the date of such permission. (5) The Development Commissioner may, on receipt of an application for extension of the permission, if he is satisfied with the proposal and that the Unit and its employees have complied with this rule, extend the permission for such period, not exceeding one year at a time. (6) Every 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. (7) The proposal for work from home shall cover a maximum fifty per cent of the total employees, including contractual employees, of the Unit and the Unit shall maintain accurate attendance record for the entire period of permission for work from home and shall submit to the Development Commissioner, from time to time. (8) The Development Commissioner may approve a higher number of employees to work from home for any bona-fide reason to be recorded in writing. (9) An Unit, where, its employees 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 shall submit its proposal for permission to the Development Commissioner within ninety days from the date of such commencement. (10) The work to be performed by the employee permitted to work from home under this rule shall be as per the services approved for the Unit, and the work is related to a project of the Unit. (11) The Unit shall ensure export revenue of the resultant products or services to be accounted for by the Unit to which the employee is tagged. (12) Where an employee ceases to be part of the project of the Unit, the employee shall be un-tagged from the Unit and the Unit shall surrender the identity card as per sub-rule (2) of rule 70. (13) The Unit may provide to an employee such goods, including laptop, computer, video projection system, other electronic0 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 procedure, namely:- (i) the unit shall account for the goods removed temporarily; (ii) 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 outside the processing area temporarily and a copy of the certificate shall be endorsed to the Specified Officer and acknowledgement received by the Unit; and (iii) the Unit shall maintain a record of such certificate of authorisation issued under clause (ii) for temporary removal of equipment. (14) Notwithstanding anything in sub-rule (1) of rule 50, the Specified Officer may approve the removal of goods mentioned in sub-rule (13), required by an employee permitted to work from home and shall be valid up to such period the permission for work from home under this rule is valid. ] 3. Substituted vide Notification No. G.S.R. 824(E) dated 07-11-2023 before it was read as, 2 [43A. Work from Home .- (1) A Unit may permit its employees, specified in sub-rule (2), to work from home or from any place outside the Special Economic Zone in accordance with this rule. (2) The following employees are covered under sub-rule (1),- (i) employees of Units which provide Information Technology and Information Technology enabled services; (ii) employees, who are temporarily incapacitated; (iii) employees, who are travelling; and (iv) employees, who are working offsite. (3) The permission granted under sub-rule (1) shall be applicable upto the 31st December, 2023. (4) The facility for work from home or from any place outside the Special Economic Zone may cover all the employees of the Unit. (5) Where a Unit permits its employees for work from home or from any place outside the Special Economic Zone under this rule, it shall intimate the same to the Development Commissioner through an email on or before the date on which the facility for work from home or from any place outside the Special Economic Zone is permitted: Provided that where a Unit has permitted its employees for work from home or from any place outside the Special Economic Zone, before the commencement of the Special Economic Zones (Fifth Amendment) Rules, 2022 and permits its employees for work from home or from any place outside the Special Economic Zone under this rule, it shall intimate the same to the Development Commissioner through an email on or before the 31st January, 2023. (6) The Unit shall not be required to submit the lists of employees who are allowed to follow work from home or from any place outside the Special Economic Zone, but shall maintain in the Unit the lists of employees who had been permitted to work from home or from any place outside the Special Economic Zone and shall be submitted for verification whenever is required by the Development Commissioner. (7) The facility for work from home or from any place outside the Special Economic Zone shall be admissible if the Unit continues to operate from the premises as per their Letter of Approval, as amended from time to time. (8) The work to be performed by the employee permitted to work from home under this rule shall be as per the services approved for the Unit, and the work is related to a project of the Unit. (9) The Unit shall ensure export revenue of the resultant products or services to be accounted for by the Unit to which the employee is tagged. (10) Where an employee ceases to be part of the project of the Unit, the employee shall be un-tagged from the Unit and the Unit shall surrender the identity card as per sub-rule (2) of rule 70. (11) The Unit may provide to an employee duty-free goods, including laptop, desktop, and other electronic equipment needed by the employee for work from home or from any place outside the Special Economic Zone and the same shall be allowed to be taken outside the Special Economic Zone without payment of duty or integrated goods and services tax on temporary basis: Provided that the Units while opting for the facility of work from home or from any place outside the Special Economic Zone shall ensure that such duty-free goods are duly accounted for in the appropriate records as per the extant rules and are available for verification, if necessary. (12) Notwithstanding anything in sub-rule (1) of rule 50, the temporary removal of such duty-free goods shall be allowed for a period commensurate with the validity of the facility for work from home or anywhere outside the Special Economic Zone: Provided that if a Unit fails to bring back the duty-free goods into the Special Economic Zone within the period specified in this sub-rule, the duty applicable on such goods shall be paid by the Unit. (13) In this rule, the expression employees shall include all persons employed on the rolls of the Unit or under a direct contract or where the Unit is the principal employer under a contract with another organisation where such persons are expected to report on a day-to-day basis for work to the Unit and the Unit administers the control on their attendance ]