What Are the Penalties for Importing Food Products Without FSSAI Clearance?
Chapter IX of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 (FSS Act) provides the penalty framework for violations related to food imports. The provisions are specific, graduated by the nature…
Importing food into India without FSSAI clearance is a criminal offence under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, with penalties that include fines up to Rs 5 lakh and imprisonment up to six months. The consequences do not stop at the border. Directors and officers of the importing company are personally liable and the commercial costs of detained goods, demurrage and re-export freight add to the list of non-compliance risks.
What are the penalties for importing without FSSAI clearance?
Chapter IX of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 (FSS Act) provides the penalty framework for violations related to food imports. The provisions are specific, graduated by the nature of the violation, and carry criminal consequences in addition to financial penalties. The framework applies not only to the act of importing without clearance but also to related violations such as importing substandard food, food with unsafe levels of contaminants and food with non-compliant labels.
Section 63 of the FSS Act provides that any person who carries on a food business without a licence, which includes importing food without the required FSSAI Central Licence and without FSSAI import clearance shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term extending to six months and a fine which may extend to Rs 5 lakh. This is a cognisable and compoundable offence under Indian law.
Section 59 of the FSS Act provides a fine of up to Rs 5 lakh for a first offence of importing substandard food, being food that does not meet FSSAI's prescribed standards but is not unsafe. Section 26 read with Section 59, operating independently of the clearance requirement under Section 63, makes it unlawful to import food that does not meet the applicable Indian standard and this provision. An importer can face action under both provisions simultaneously where a product is imported without clearance and is also found to be substandard.
Section 27 of the FSS Act provides for a penalty including imprisonment up to six years and a fine up to Rs 5 lakh for dealing with unsafe food. For food causing death, the penalty extends to imprisonment for life and a fine up to Rs 10 lakh. These provisions are rarely invoked in routine but they apply where a rejected consignment's underlying problem is a genuine safety risk such as excessive pesticide residues, microbial contamination or prohibited substances.
Implications for businesses
For foreign food manufacturers and exporters, the penalty framework creates a reputational and commercial risk that extends beyond the Indian market. Where a consignment is rejected at an Indian port and the rejection is recorded in FSSAI's import violation database, subsequent shipments from the same manufacturer are more likely to be assigned to the Yellow or Red Channel resulting in enhanced scrutiny of all shipments from a particular country of origin or manufacturer, affecting not just the non-compliant shipment but the entire India business.
For Indian importers and distributors, Section 66 of the FSS Act makes the director, manager, secretary or other officer of a company personally liable for offences committed by the company where those offences were committed with their consent, connivance or through their neglect.
How the penalty enforcement process works
The Food Safety Officer begins the enforcement process at the port under Section 47 of the FSS Act and draws samples, inspects the consignment and detains it pending assessment. Where the violation is apparent on the face of the documentation, the Officer can decline to issue a No Objection for clearance immediately. The consignment is then placed under Customs bond and the importer is issued a notice requiring them to respond to the violation.
During the response period, the goods remain at the port under bond. Port demurrage, container storage charges and equipment use fees accrue daily and are not stayed by the pendency of the FSSAI process.
A rejection order under Regulation 9 of the Food Safety and Standards (Import) Regulations, 2017, the importer has a defined window to re-export the goods. If the importer fails to re-export within the stipulated period or if re-export is not possible, the Food Safety Officer can order destruction of the goods at the importer's cost. For violations that involve criminal prosecution, the case is registered with the relevant Adjudicating Officer under Section 68 of the FSS Act.
Legality and risks
Apart from the relevant import violation penalties consolidated in Chapter IX of the FSS Act, Section 69 of Chapter X allows certain violations to be compounded and settled by payment but at the discretion of the Commissioner of Food Safety and is not a matter of right. This provision is not available for violations involving unsafe food.
Word of counsel
Importers should not treat compounding provision in Section 69 of the FSS Act as an escape route from penalty liability. Compounding is discretionary and the Designated Officer acting under the orders of the Commissioner of Food Safety can decline to compound a case where there is evidence of deliberate mis-declaration or where the importer has a prior violation history.
A compounded violation is still a recorded violation that will affect the risk channel to which future consignments are assigned and the only effective way to manage this is to avoid violations in the first place.
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