GOVERNMENT EXEMPTS ASSOCIATIONS FROM ACCEPTING FOREIGN CONTRIBUTION FOR PROVIDING RELIEF TO TSUNAMI VICTIMS 

In order to facilitate the immediate acceptance of foreign assistance, in cash and kind by various agencies working in the Tsunami hit coastal areas of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry and Kerala and other parts of the country for providing relief to the affected persons, the Central Government has exempted, with immediate effect and upto 31st March 2005, all associations (other than a political party) having a definite cultural, economic, educational, religious or social programme, from the provisions of section 6 (1-A) of the Act to accept foreign contribution, in cash and kind, for providing relief to the affected persons without obtaining a formal approval of the Central Government, subject to the following conditions:

Each such association would open a new bank account for this purpose;
The said account would be designated as the "Tsunami Relief Account"; 
The association would receive foreign contribution only in the said designated bank account;

The association would maintain a separate set of accounts and records in respect of foreign contribution received in the said designated bank account;
The association would submit its particulars in Form FC-1A to the Foreigners Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs within one week of the opening of the said designated bank account;

The association would make an intimation regarding receipt of foreign contribution in Form FC-3 and in Form FC-6 in respect of articles, duly certified by a Chartered Accountant, within 4 months of the closure of the year to the Foreigners Division of the Ministry of Home Affairs in the manner prescribed in Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Rules, 1976.

The forms can be downloaded from the Ministry of Home Affairs Website at: http://mha.nic.in/fore.htm 

Voluntary organisations already registered under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 1976 are hereby permitted, as a special case, to receive foreign contribution in cash and kind for assisting the victims of Tsunami, irrespective of the fact that their aims and objects provide for such activity or not, under intimation to the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Certain voluntary organisations are also in receipt of permission to accept foreign contribution for a specific project. Such organisations are also permitted, as a special case, to use the foreign contribution for assisting the victims of Tsunami, under intimation to the Ministry of Home Affairs.