Bio

Sanjay Notani is a Partner at ELP and co-heads the International Trade & Customs practice. He is a member of the Supreme Court Bar of India (SCBA) and Maharashtra & Goa Bar Council, American Bar Association (ABA) and has the distinction of being appointed to ABA’s Steering Group of the Export Controls & Economic Sanctions Committee, representing Asia. Sanjay is also a member of the Inter-Pacific Bar Association (IPBA) and the Customs and International Trade Bar Association (CITBA) and represents various committees. Sanjay has also been recently invited to be a Committee Member of the CII International Trade Policy Council 2020-21 and of ITechLaw’s Technology Sourcing, Substantive Law Committee. His advisory work includes, appellate litigation to obtain trade remedial reliefs from unfairly traded imports in anti-dumping, countervailing and safeguard duty proceedings (Trade Remedial Actions) pertaining to inbound and outbound levy of duties, and disputes arising from Free Trade Agreements (FTA’s)/Regional Trade Agreements (RTA’s) including disputes at the World Trade Organization (WTO) representing India. Sanjay also provides trade advice on various FTA’s/RTA’s being negotiated and signed by India. The scope includes analysis of all the matters that constitute an import or export declaration including valuation, classification, country of origin, marking and labelling, qualification for the relevant Free Trade Program/Agreement and Free Trade zone issues. He assists clients in responding to customs notices, conducting internal compliance reviews, pursuing customs rulings and advising on topics such as regulatory barriers. He has advised businesses and industry associations on a wide array of issues related to SPS and TBT (Non-Tariff Barriers) with a predominant focus on market access challenges to agri-business, labelling requirements and technical regulations. Sanjay implemented and led a research project on monitoring of SPS measures that are likely to be WTO law incompatible. Sanjay is also representing companies and advising Governments on the standards imposed on products ranging from steel, chemicals, medical devices and certain IT Products by the Bureau of Indian Standards. Sanjay has in-depth experience in advising various multinational companies on import and export control as well as licensing issues, specifically the dual use of goods and technologies regulations (Export Control (SCOMET)) maintained by the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of External Affairs and other allied Ministries. Sanjay provides strategic legal and commercial advice to corporates, trade bodies and governments on the inherent challenges in doing business globally, including the strategies to be adopted by Global Value Chains (GVC). He also has regulatory and advocacy experience in India’s emerging legal landscape in the evolving technologies space and advises clients on issues concerning privacy, e-commerce, data localization and digital tax. Sanjay has been recommended for his expertise in Chambers Asia-Pacific, Chambers Global and Legal500 Asia- Pacific. He has recognized as a Leading Expert by Who’s Who Legal Trade & Customs and has featured in the WorldECR Awards for export controls and sanctions expertise. Sanjay has also featured as a Thought Leader in Who’s Who Legal.