GST Council sets 1 June 2018 deadline for national e-way bill system

The GST Council has fixed 1 June as the deadline for implementation of e-way bills across the country. While the system will be ready by 16 January 2018, the uniform system of e-way bill for inter-state as well as intra-state movement will be implemented across the country by 1 June 2018.

The 24th meeting of the GST Council held today through video conferencing also decided that inter-state e-way bill be made compulsory from 1 February 2018.

The GST Council meeting headed by minister of finance and corporate affairs Arun Jaitley, discussed the implementation of e-way bill system in the country. Till such time as the National e-way Bill is ready, states were authorised to continue their own separate e-way bill systems.

However, trade and transporters have made representations that the piecemeal roll-out will cause undue hardship in the inter-state movement of goods and therefore, bringing in an all India system of e-way bill has become a necessity.

The GST Council also reviewed the progress of readiness of hardware and software required for the introduction of nationwide e-way bill system. After discussions with all the states, the following decisions were taken:

• Nationwide e-way bill system will be ready to be rolled out on a trial basis latest by 16 January 2018;
• Trade and transporters can start using this system on a voluntary basis from 16 January 2018;
• 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 1 February 2018 to bring uniformity across the States for seamless inter-state movement of goods;

While the system for both inter-state and intra-state e-way bill generation will be ready by 16 January 2018, states may choose their own timings for implementation of e-way bill for intra-state movement of goods on any date before 1 June 2018.

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. But, in any case, the uniform system of e-way bill for inter-state as well as intra-state movement will be implemented across the country by 1 June 2018.