Each year myriad of products find their way to India via sea, road, and air transport from various nations. The Directorate General of Foreign Trade regulates the Exim activities in India. DGFT also mandates the obtainment of the Import Export Code (IEC) for every importer and exporter in India. Not all items are importable in India. DGFT has prepared extensive lists of items that are restricted items and not allowed entry into Indian territory and is subjected to changes from time to time. Every exporter and importer must be aware of such lists as it can help avoid severe penalties, which may include imprisonment in some cases. This write-up has strived to cover some restricted items for Import in India.
List of Restricted items for Import in India
- Edible Meat offal, chilled, fresh, or frozen of wild animals.
- Pig fat, free of poultry fat and lean meat, not a product or otherwise extracted, chilled, salted, fresh, in brine, dried, or smoked.
- Guts of animals for preparing food casing of wild animals.
- Stomachs & bladders of wild animals.
- Feathers used for stuffing; down of wild birds.
- Other feathers (exclusive of stuffing purpose) of wild birds.
- Power & waste of feathers of wild birds.
- Skins & other parts fetched from wild birds.
- Bones (inclusive of horn-cores) of wild animals.
- Bone grist and Ossein fetched from wild animals.
- Bones, horn cones, and parts thereof, non-crushed fetched from the wild animals.
- Meal prepared from the wild animals’ bones.
- Ivory.
- Ivory powder & waste.
- Ambergris, civet, castoreum & musk; cantharides; bile, whether or not dried; glands fetched from wild animals.
- Fish nails and tails
- Other fish waste.
- Tendons & Sinews of wildlife
- Semen (in the frozen state) other than the bovine embryo of wild animals.
- Pig Fats (inclusive of lard) & poultry fat, other than that of heading 1503 or 0209.
- Fats, unrendered (excluding Mutton Tallow).
- Mutton Tallow
- Solvent extraction fats.
- Other fats of Sheep or Goats, Bovine animals, other than those of Heading 1503.
- Lard oil, Lard Stearin, Oleo-Oil, Oleostearin, Tallow Oil, not emulsified or mixed
- Other fats as well as oils and their fractions, of marine animals or fish, whether or not refined, are free from chemical treatment.
- Other fats as well as oils & their fractions of fish, excluding liver oils.
- Fats & oils as well as their fractions of marine animals.
- Neats foot oils as well as fates from bone or waste.
- Other animal fats as well as oils & their fractions, whether refined or not, but not chemically altered.
- Animal’s oils & fats and their fractions.
- Margarine, extracted from animals.
- Imitation lard extracted from animals.
- Animals or vegetable fats & oils and their fractions, oxidized, boiled, sulphurised, dehydrated,
- Animal or Vegetable fats and oils and their fractions, boiled, oxidized, dehydrated, sulphurised, polymerized by heat in vacuum or otherwise chemically modified, exclusive of heading 1516.
- Inedible mixtures or vegetable fats or oils.
- Degras.
- Microbial rennet: Animal rennet[1].
- Soap Stocks.
- Prepared enzymes not elsewhere mentioned or included.
- Other animal rennet.
- Animal rennet.
- Tiger-Cat skins.
- Article of clothing and apparel made from wild animals is mentioned under the Wild Life Protection Act, 1972.
- Other articles made from the skin of wild animals are mentioned under Wild Life Protection Act, 1972.
- Telecom gears such as telephones for cellular networks; other apparatus that allows transmission or reception of voice or data, including apparatus made for communication in a wired or wireless network ), other than transmission or reception gears of heading 8443, 8527, 8525, or 8528. (i) Import of communication gear like mobile handset (classified under ‘8517’) lacking (IMEI) No. or with all zeroes IMEI is banned.
- Importation of CDMA mobile handset (cited under ITC (HS) Code ‘8517’) lacking Electronic Serial Number (ESN)/ (MEID), i.e. Mobile Equipment Identifier or with all Zeroes as ESN / MEID is not allowed.
- Worked ivory as well as articles of ivory is banned from import.
Read our article:Advantages of Obtaining IEC (Import Export Code) Registration in India
Penalty for importing restricted items in India
As per sub-section (d) of section 111 & sub-section (d) of Section 113 of the Custom Act prohibits the importation of items banned by the Customs Act or any other prevailing law. Contravention to this condition would incur the chances of confiscation.
Section 112 of the Custom Act talks about the penalization of improper importation and Section 114 of the same Act sets out the penalties for improper exportation of goods.
In respect of banned items, the Adjudicating Officer may levy a penalty up to 5 times the estimated value of the goods. It is, thus, imperative for businesses to get accustomed to prohibitions or restrictions in force before engaging with Exim activities.
Conclusion
The aforementioned list for restricted items for import doesn’t encompass all the items, thus you need to visit DGFT’s portal to discover the entire list. Again, it is important to take the penal provisions into account before importing any suspicious product to India or else be ready to face dire consequences.
Read our article:What is the IEC Registration Process in India?
