Food Safety and Standards (Import) First Amendment Regulations, 2020 : Ministry of Health and Family Welfare

NOTIFICATION

New Delhi, the 20th October, 2020

And whereas, the copies of the said Gazette were made available to the public on the 5th February, 2019;

And whereas the objections and suggestions received from the public in respect of the said draft regulations have been considered by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India;

Now, therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred by clause (e) of sub- section (2) of section 92 of the said Act, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India hereby makes the following regulations, namely: –

 REGULATIONS

1. (1) These regulations may be called the Food Safety and Standards (Import) First Amendment Regulations, 2020.

(2) They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette except the section (1) (A) (i) and (1) (A) (ii) below; and Food Business Operator shall comply with all other provisions of these regulations with effect from 1st July, 2021.

2. In the Food Safety and Standards (Import) Regulations, 2017, –

(1) in Chapter –III,-

(A) in regulation ‘5’ relating to “Clearance of Imported Food by the Food Authority”, –

(i) in sub-regulation (1), after the words “Form as specified by the Customs”, the following words shall be inserted, namely: – 

“and shall pay non-refundable basic food import clearance fee as specified by Food Authority from time to time”

(ii) in sub-regulation (2),-

(a) for the clause ‘(b)’, the following shall be substituted, namely:-

“(b) after satisfactory scrutiny, the Authorized Officer shall intimate the details of date and time of inspection to the Food Importer to facilitate the presence of the Importer or his Custom House Agent or authorized representative at the time and place of inspection;”

(b) clauses (c), (d) and (e) shall be omitted.

(iii) for sub-regulation (4), the following shall be substituted, namely:-

“(4) If the Food Importer or his Custom House Agent is not present to facilitate inspection and sampling at the mutually agreed date and time, the Authorised Officer may grant one opportunity to reschedule the appointment for inspection and sampling on request of Food Importer or   his Custom House Agent.

(4) (a) In absence of Food Importer or his Custom House Agent during mutually agreed date and time, The Authorized Officer may refuse to grant further appointment and may carry out inspection and sampling of food consignment:

Provided that on request of Food Importer or his Custom House Agent, any further opportunity in this behalf may be granted by the official authorized by CEO, after levy of suitable fee on the Food Importer as may be specified by the Authority from time to time.”

(B) in regulation ‘6’ relating to “Compliance with standards for packaging and labelling”,-

(i) in sub-regulation (4) –

(a) for the word “principle display”, the following clause shall be substituted, namely: – “principal display”;

(b) after clause (d), the following shall be inserted, namely: –

“(e) Any other labeling information as per instructions issued by the Food Authority from time to time.”

(ii) in sub-regulation (5), after the words “Authorised Officer may pass an order”, the following shall be inserted, namely:-

“during scrutiny stage or after visual inspection”;

(iii) in sub-regulation (6), for the words “Authorised Officer shall carry out a re-inspection”, the following shall be substituted, namely:-

“Authorised Officer shall carry out visual inspection or re-inspection”

(2) in chapter-V, in regulation 9 relating to “Sampling of Imported Food in respect of imported article of food”, after the sub-regulation (3), the following shall be inserted, namely:-

“(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 purpose of sub-regulation (3a), the Authorized Officer shall take a declaration from importer in Form ‘13 A’ and importer shall sell such pre-packaged food article only after the issuance of no objection certificate by the Authorized Officer.”

(3) in chapter-XI, in regulation 15 relating to  “Reviewable orders”, in clause (e) of sub-regulation (3), for the words “within a period of seven days”, the following shall be substituted, namely:-

“within a period of ten working days”;

(4) in Form -6, for the words “Food Safety and Standards (Food Import) Regulation, 2016”, the following shall be substituted, namely:-

“Food Safety and Standards (Food Import) Regulation, 2017”

(5) after Form ‘13’, the following Form shall be inserted, namely:- ………….. Read More.