Unlike in FERA, the prosecution has to prove the guilt of the accused person. Further, under FEMA only monetary penalty are provided for contraventions. The categorisation of offences under FEMA as civil and not criminal constitutes one of the most important differences between the two statutes.
Contravention of FEMA provisions are dealt with under civil law procedures, for which separate administrative procedure and mechanism in the form of Compounding Rules, Adjudicating Authority, Special Director (Appeals) and Appellate Tribunal have been established. Another significant change has been that for each process of law a time-frame has been provided in the Act.