(1) A Certificate of In Principle Approval shall act as an approval, as defined in clause (a) of section 2 for the regulatory services under the Acts specified in section 18, for a period of three years and six months from the date of its issuance.
(2) During the validity of Certificate of In Principle Approval, no competent authority shall undertake any inspection for the purpose of, or in connection with, any approval as defined in clause (a) of section 2, except on the basis of complaints as specified in sub-section (6) of this section.
(3) A Certificate of In Principle Approval may be issued under section 10 to 2 [Eligible Enterprise] on receipt of a Declaration of Intent complete in all respects in the prescribed format.
(4) The provision of a Certificate of In Principle Approval shall be optional and an enterprise may choose to avail the regular approvals from the concerned departments at any point of time.
3[(5) A Certificate of In Principle Approval shall not entitle a person to use a piece of land in deviation to the land use or any stipulations specified in the regional plan, notified master plan or Local Planning Area notified under the provisions of the Punjab Regional and Town Planning and Development Act, 1995.The applicant shall also adhere to the sitting guidelines for setting up industries issued by various departments.]
(6) (a) In the case of complaints of serious nature, only the Head of the concerned authority alone may order inspection after recording reasons in writing for such an inspection.
1 Substituted by Punjab Act No. 1 of 2022, Section 4 2Substituted for the words "a new Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises being set up in the State " by Punjab Act No.1 of 2022, Section 5 3 Substituted by Punjab Act No. 14 of 2025, Section 7 (i) Filing of Declaration of Intent.
Effect of the Effect of the Certificate of In Principle Approval.
1 [(b) The Inspecting Officer or the team of inspecting officers not below the rank of Joint Director shall be nominated by the Head of the concerned authority.]
(c) The inspection report shall be made available online to the enterprise and the concerned department within 2 [fortyeight working hours] after the inspection.
(7) During the course of validity of the Certificate of In Principle Approval, the enterprise shall at any time but not later than three years from the date of issue of the Certificate, apply to 3[obtain] all applicable regular approvals from the concerned departments through 4[the State single window system of Punjab].
9. To examine and decide upon the applications received under sub-section
(2) of section 10, there shall be a Scrutiny Committee for each district in the State which shall consist of the Deputy Commissioner concerned and such other members as may be prescribed. The Scrutiny Committee before making its decision may jointly or severely make a site visit, if so required, with prior notice to the applicant.
10. 5[(1) For Eligible Enterprise being set up or operational in Approved Industrial Park(s) or Real Estate Project(s), the District Nodal Agency, upon receipt of Declaration of Intent, shall forthwith, issue a Certificate of In- Principle Approval within five working days to new and existing enterprise.
(2) For Eligible Enterprise being set up or operational outside the Approved Industrial Park(s) or Real Estate Project(s) and on areas, approved under the relevant regional plan or master plan or notified local planning areas, the decision to issue a Certificate of In Principle Approval shall be taken by the 1 Substituted by Punjab Act No. 1 of 2022, Section 5 2Substituted for the words "forty-eight hours" by Punjab Act No. 1 of 2022, Section 5 3Substituted for the words "btain" by Punjab Act No. 1 of 2022, Section 5 4 Substituted for words “the single window system of the Punjab Bureau of Investment Promotion (PBIP)” by Punjab Act No. 14 of 2025, Section 7 (ii) 5 Substituted by Punjab Act No. 14 of 2025, Section 8 Scrutiny Committee.
Issuance of Certificate of In Principle Approval District Nodal Agency within a period of fifteen working days for new Enterprise and within eighteen working days for Existing Enterprise in accordance with the procedure, as may be prescribed.]
(3) In case the decision to issue the Certificate of In Principle Approval is not taken within the stipulated period specified in sub-sections (1) and (2), the same shall be deemed to have been issued by the District Nodal Agency.
1[(4) The District Nodal Agency may appoint an officer of the department concerned to inspect the Enterprise undertaking expansion before issuing a Certificate of in Principal Approval. The inspection report shall be made available to the District Nodal Agency within forty-eight working hours after the inspection]