Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
(Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs)

INSTRUCTION No. 10/2018 -Customs

Room No. 227B, North Block,
New Delhi, Date :29^th May 2018

To

All Principal Chief Commissioner / Chief Commissioner of Customs/ Customs (Preventive),
All Principal Chief Commissioner / Chief Commissioner of Customs and GST,
All Principal Commissioner / Commissioner of Customs/ Customs (Preventive)

Sir/ Madam,

Subject: Single Window Project- clearance of food consignments by Customsofficers at locations where FSSAI has provided delegation-reg.

Kind reference is invited to Board Circular Nos. 03/2016-customs dated 03.02.2016 and10/2016-customs dated 15.03.2016 regarding the operationalization of the Single WindowInterface for Facilitation of Trade (SWIFT) from 01st April, 2016 at all EDI locations throughoutIndia.

2. To recapitulate, in SWIFT, the system automatically refers food-related consignments tothe Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) through a message exchange systemestablished between ICEGATE and the Food Import Clearance System (FICS) operated byFSSAI. This automatic reference of imported food consignments is done in locations whereFSSAI has its offices. For the remaining Customs EDI locations, the system generatesinstructions directing that Customs ‘Authorized Officers’ may clear the consignment (wherever,such ‘Authorized Officer’ are present) and in other locations where ‘Authorized Officers’ are notpresent, the consignments were to be referred to Port Health officer for an NOC.

3. As of now, FSSAI has offices in 6 cities covering 21 ICES locations. For Customslocations where FSSAI does not have officers, FSSAI had issued order No. 1-1371/FSSAI/Imports/2015 dated 29th March 2016 delegating authority to Customs officers toperform the functions of an ‘Authorized Officer’ under food safety laws. FSSAI has now issuedorder No. 1-1371/FSSAI/Imports/2015 (Part-7) dated 2nd May, 2018 notifying Customs officer as ‘Authorized officers’ under food safety laws. This order is in supersession of all previousnotifications/ orders with regard to authorizing Customs officials to handle food importclearance. This order is also available at http://www.fssai.gov.in/home/imports/orderguidelines.html.

4. In respect of the above notified locations, Commissioners of Customs are requested tosuitably guide the officers responsible for clearance of food consignments. There should not beany Customs location which is not covered either by FSSAI officials or by the ‘AuthorizedOfficers’ of Customs. Therefore, Commissioners of Customs are also required to identifyCustoms locations, in their jurisdiction which are not notified under the said order and bring thesame to the notice of the CBIC/ Single window.

5. FSSAI has also issued a list of accredited laboratories for the testing of all food-relatedconsignments vide order F. No. 12012/02/2017-QA dated 1st August, 2017. This list can beaccessed at http://www.fssai.gov.in/home/food-testing/orders---notice.html. Prior to clearance,the Customs officers posted in the shed should record in the system the acceptance or rejection ofthe consignments as part of the examination report as this would help in carrying out riskanalysis.

6. As all ‘Authorized Officers’ may not be familiar with procedural requirements for theclearance of food-related import consignments, it is advised to organize training sessions onongoing basis to equip the authorized officers with the procedural and legal requirements relatingto food safety. For this purpose, Commissioners of Customs are requested to contact the nearestoffices of the FSSAI and organize in house training within the Custom House. Arrangements arealso being made with NACIN and the FSSAI headquarters to conduct periodic training of ourofficers in the Regional Training Institutes (RTIs).

7. Any difficulties faced by field formations pertaining to above issues may kindly bereferred to Single Window Project team, CBIC.