Further to the trail mail, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (“FSSAI”) has in a recent direction dated 1st May, 2018, made the draft Food Safety and Standards (Import) Amendment Regulations, 2018 (“Amended Regulations”) operational w.e.f 1st May, 2018.
The Amended Regulations are in the process of being notified and stakeholders comments received on it is being considered. This direction has been issued in view of ease of doing business and need to reduce the time to clear imported food items.
The major changes proposed are:-
| Principal Regulations | Amended Regulations | Impact |
| Regulation 9
…..
(3) In respect of imported articles of food having shelf-life less than seven days, the applicant shall declare the same in FORM – 13 allowing the Authorised Officer to draw sample and issue provisional no objection certificate to the customs, without waiting for the analysis report from laboratory and on receipt of the report analysis from the laboratory, the Authorised Officer shall communicate to the customs along with no objection certificate if products conform to the standard.
|
New sub-regulations (3a) and (3b) inserted after Regulation 9
…… (3a) In case of imported pre-packaged retail food article, the Authorized Officer after successful completion of visual inspection and sampling may issue a provisional no objection certificate to move the food consignment to a well equipped storage facility.
(3b) For the purposes of sub-regulation (3a), the Authorized Officer shall take a declaration from importer in Form ‘13 A’ and the importer shall sell such pre-packaged food article only after the issuance of no objection certificate by the Authorized Officer. |
The Amended Regulations propose to insert new sub-Regulation/s (3a) and (3b) after Regulation 9 (3).
As per Regulation 9 (3a), after completing the visual inspection and sampling of imported pre- packaged retail food articles, the Authorized Officer may issue a provisional NOC to move the food consignment to a well-equipped storage facility.
Towards this, the Authorized Officer is required to take a declaration from the importer in Form ‘13 A’ where the importer will be undertaking not to sell such pre-packaged food article/s till he is issued a NOC by the Authorized Officer. |
For further details, refer to the attachment.
Source: Food Safety and Standards Authority of India
