Food Safety and Standards (Import) First Amendment Regulations, 2017: FSSAI
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On November 30, 2017, FSSAI, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, notified draft regulations on Food Safety and Standards (Import) First Amendment Regulations, 2017 inviting comments and suggestions within a period of 30 days from the date of publication of the notice.
This notification amends the requirement relating to shelf life of imported product at the time of port clearance. According to the notification, Custom Authorities 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.”
Moreover, a new provision has been inserted: “the importer shall submit 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”. This will help in the risk prioritization and in effectively dealing with high risk products intended for import.
The notification stated, “The following draft of certain regulations further to amend the Food Safety and Standards (Food Import) Regulations, 2017, which the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, with the previous approval of the Central Government, proposes to make, in exercise of powers conferred by clause (e) of sub-section (2) of Section 92 of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, (34 of 2006) is hereby published as required by sub-section (1) of Section 92 of the said Act, for the information of persons likely to be affected thereby and notice is hereby given that the said draft regulations will be taken into consideration after the expiry of a period of thirty days from the date on which copies of the Official Gazette in which this notification is published are made available to the public.”
The draft regulations are as follows:
In the Food Safety and Standards (Import) Regulations, 2017,—
(a). in regulation 3,—
(i) sub-regulation (2) shall be omitted.
(ii) for sub-regulation (3), the following shall be substituted, namely:—
“(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.”
(b). in regulation 5, after sub-regulation (5), the following sub-regulation shall be inserted, namely:—
“(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.”
(c). in regulation 11, for sub-regulation (2), the following shall be substituted, namely:—
“(2) for the purposes of sub-regulation (1),—
(a) the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India shall profile the Importer, custom house agent, 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 certificate of sanitary export from authorised agencies in exporting countries for the categories of food as may be specified by the Food Authority from time to time.”
The objections or suggestions which may be received from any person with respect to the said draft regulations, before the expiry of the period so specified above, will be considered by the Food Authority.
To view the Notification, please check the attached PDF.
