|
|
|
You can get e-magazine links on WhatsApp. Click here
|
|
|
|
|
|
FSSAI updates payment workflow for imported food clearances, removes bottlenecks
|
|
Monday, 04 May, 2026, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
|
|
Ashwani Maindola, New Delhi
|
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has announced a shift in its payment workflow for imported food clearances. The update, aimed at streamlining the Food Import Clearance System (FICS) and the Single Window Interface for Facilitating Trade (SWIFT), represents a major effort to eliminate bureaucratic bottlenecks at India’s ports of entry.
Under the previous framework established by the 2017 Import Regulations, the clearance process was strictly sequential.
Once an application passed document scrutiny, the entire system would halt until the importer paid the necessary fees for visual inspection and laboratory sampling. This ‘payment wall’ created significant ‘delays' at ports, as physical inspections and sample collection could not begin until the e-payment was confirmed, often leading to delays in the overall movement of goods.
To resolve this, the FSSAI has introduced ‘flexibility’ regarding when these fees must be settled.
Importers and Customs Brokers are no longer mandated to pay before the visual inspection takes place. This allows the physical inspection and drawing of samples to proceed immediately after document approval, while the payment is processed in the background.
While the new system fast-tracks the initial stages of inspection, the FSSAI maintains a strict safeguard on final approvals. The payment of all applicable fees remains a mandatory prerequisite for the generation of the final clearance decision.
As per FSSAI notice, “Under this system improvement, Importers/ CBs are now allowed to make requisite fee payment after Visual Inspection but before Provisional No Objection Certificate (P-NOC) or No Objection Certificate (NOC) or Non-Conformance Report (NCR) generation, as the case may be. Thus, Importer is now not mandated to make requisite fee payment before Visual Inspection. However, payment of all applicable fees shall remain mandatory prior to generation of the final clearance decision- PNOC/ NOC/ NCC. Thus, Final Certificate i.e., PNOC/NOC/NCC will be issued by FSSAI only after the requisite payment is made by the applicant.”
The notice added that this approach is expected to facilitate simultaneous processing of inspection/sampling activities and fee payment, thereby reducing dwell time of imported food consignments and will enhance ease of doing business.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|