Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (“FSSAI”) has rolled out a Standard Operating Procedure for applying and processing of refunds with regard to erroneous / inadvertent payments credited into FSSAI Account in respect of license / registration fee:
Key Highlights:
The refund request with the application number and payment details should be made within 1 year of the payment made through the online portal. The request needs to be sent to FSSAI Hq through email at enforcement1@fssai.gov.in;
Regulatory Compliance Division (RCD) shall forward the case to IT Division for verification of the claim;
After verification of the request, it shall be processed by RCD as per the FSS Licensing Regulation 2011 and accordingly, the Accounts Division of FSSAI will be directed to process the refund of payment;
Refunds of less than Rs. 100 may not be processed;
In case of State Licenses and Registrations, the claims for refund of payment to FSSAI Hq shall be on the account of double payment or any other technical glitch while making payment through ‘RazorPay’ payment gateway only. In case, the payments has been settled in the State/UT’s account by FSSAI Hq, for a particular date for which refund has to be given to the applicant, after processing of refund, FSSAI Hq shall settle the refund amount from future payment of the concerned State/UT. Refund of such extra payments for State Licenses/Registrations made through any other mode or State specific payment gateway other than ‘RazorPay’ shall only be made by the concerned State Authorities;
The fee paid by the applicant for successfully submitted application for licensing/registration shall not be refunded under any circumstances.
Background:
FSSAI observed several instances in the past wherein the Food Business Operators (“FBO”) submitted the fees for license / registration more than once erroneously through the payment mode available in the FSSAI online registration portal.
Source: Food Safety and Standards Authority of India
