Setting the Expiration date on MA

Hello Experts ,

We are trying to set master agreement expiration date on MA save event . The below script we have tried on MA validation event but resulting some error .  Though it's a simple script , I believe I am mistaking somewhere . Can you please throw any light ?   Appreciate your help

dateFormat = new SimpleDateFormat("MM.dd.yyyy");
effective_date = "01.02.2019";

Date exp_date= dateFormat.parse(effective_date);

doc.setExpirationDate(exp_date);

error-  Error in method invocation: Method setExpirationDate( java.util.Date ) not found in class'com.sap.eso.api.contracts.ContractIBeanImpl'