New Delhi, Jan 28 (PTI) Coal Import Monitoring System (CIMS) -- under which a trader will have to provide advance information about the imports and obtain a registration number -- will come into effect from April 1, according to a notification issued by the commerce ministry on Thursday.

Earlier, it was notified that the system will be effective from February 1 and the facility of online registration would be available from December 31, 2020.

"CIMS will be effective from April 1, 2021, and online registration will be available from February 15, 2021," Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a notification.

The DGFT is an arm of the commerce ministry which deals with export and import related matters.

In this system, importers of different kinds of coal including anthracite, bituminous, coking, and steam will have to register in advance on CIMS, providing necessary information.

The government has a similar system for steel imports.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)