Customs in India is managed by the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) under Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Government of India. TheBoard is the administrative authority for its subordinate organizations,including Custom Houses,Central GST Commissionerates and the Central Revenues Control Laboratory.
All food imports require clearance from customs authorities in India. Requisite clearances for food imports are available through a fully integrated, single window online system called Single Window Interface for Facilitation of Trade (SWIFT).The ‘IndiaCustomsSingle Window’ allows food importers the facility to lodge their clearance documents online at asingle point .Required permissions from FSSAI and other regulatory agencies are obtained online without the trader having to approach the agencies.FSSAI carries out all requisite backend processing and examination as per regulatory requirements and provides their decision regarding the consignment through an online system, thereby reducing the compliance burden of multiple points of contact and enhancing ease of doing business
Further,to facilitate genuine trade,a risk based inspection system is being followed by FSSAI for Food Imports, which considerably reduces the time for sample testing and clearance, based on the risk profile of the product.