Through a notification dated 7 February 2017 the FSSAI has notified the Food Safety and Standards (Import) First Amendment Regulations, 2018. The gazette notification makes amendments in the following two spheres
- shelf life of imported products at the time of port clearance
- submission of a certificate of sanitary export from authorized agencies in exporting countries
This will help in the risk prioritization and in effectively dealing with high-risk products intended for import. The said amendments made in the Food Safety and Standards (Import) Regulations, 2017 will come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.
The amendments have been made in the following
- In Chapter II Licensing of Food Importers under Regulation 3 sub-regulation (2) reading as “No article of food shall be cleared from the custom unless it has a valid shelf life of not less than sixty percent at the time of import” has been omitted because amendments have been made to the shelf life requirement for clearance.
- Sub-regulation (3) will become number (2) sub-regulation and will read as “(2) For the purposes of sub-regulation (1), the Food Importer shall register himself with the Directorate General of Foreign Trade and possess valid Import-Export Code.”
In regulation 5, which comes under Chapter – III Clearance of Imported Food by the Food Authority sub-regulation (6) after (5) has been added which says which says that
“(6) The custom shall not clear any article of food unless it has a valid shelf life of not less than sixty percent or three months before expiry whichever is less at the time of import.”
In regulation 7 which comes under Chapter – IV Food Import Clearance for Specific Purposes, Explanation 1 under sub-regulation (3) has been substituted and will read as
“Explanation 1: – For the purposes of clause (b) of sub-regulation 3, the importer shall declare in FORM – 8 regarding the captive or end use of the imported product to the Customs Department at the time of filing the bill of entry, declaring that the imported articles of food is meant to be used by the importer for hundred percent export or re-import of articles of food for export again as the case may be, and that no part thereof shall be supplied for domestic consumption.”
In regulation 11, which comes under the Chapter – VII Scheme for Risk-based Food Import Clearance; sub-regulation (2) will be substituted with the following
“(2) for the purposes of sub-regulation (1),-
(a) the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India shall profile the Importer, custom house agent, a manufacturer of the imported product, imported product, country of origin, source country of the consignment, port of entry, history of compliance and any other parameters as it deems fit for assessing the risk associated with the commodity;
(b) the importer shall submit a certificate of sanitary export from authorized agencies in exporting countries for the categories of food as may be specified by the Food Authority from time to time.”
In FORM- 9, for “[See regulation 7 (4)]” will be replaced “[See regulation 7 (5)]”
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