System Improvement in Payment Workflow for Visual Inspection and Laboratory Testing Charges

[Image omitted. See the official document.]

F.No. TIC/3/2023-IMPORTS-FSSAI
FOOD SAFETY AND STANDARDS AUTHORITY OF INDIA
(Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India)
Trade and International Cooperation Division
FDA Bhawan, Kotla Road, New Delhi – 110002

Dated: 10^th April, 2026

PUBLIC NOTICE

Subject: System improvement in payment workflow for visual inspection and laboratory testing charges in FICS/ SWIFT to enhance ease of doing business-reg.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) regulates the import of food articles into India under the provisions of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and the Food Safety and Standards (Import) Regulations, 2017.

2. As per Regulation 5(2)(b) of the Food Safety and Standards (Import) Regulations, 2017, upon satisfactory scrutiny of the application, the applicant is required to pay the fees specified by the Food Authority towards scrutiny of documents, visual inspection and drawing of samples.

3. The FSSAI Order No. 12014/01/2020-QA dated 19th January, 2023 prescribes the testing fees applicable for import samples.

4. At present, under the Food Import Clearance System (FICS), imported food consignments referred by ICEGATE to FSSAI undergo document scrutiny, visual inspection and laboratory analysis sequentially. After scrutiny of documents by Authorized Officer, a payment link is generated for payment of applicable fees through the FSSAI e-payment gateway. The subsequent steps i.e, visual inspection and drawing of samples for laboratory testing starts only after the requisite payment is made by the applicant. As the subsequent stages of processing in the system are dependent upon completion of the payment step, any delay in fee payment delays the processing for visual inspection and sampling; thus resulting in delay in clearance time.

5. In order to streamline the food import clearance workflow and to improve operational efficiency, FSSAI has introduced flexibility in the timing of fee payment by the Importer in the SWIFT/FICS. 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.

6. 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.

7. All stakeholders including Importers, Customs Brokers, Laboratories and other concerned agencies are hereby informed that FSSAI has initiated the system improvements to enable flexibility in fee payment within the Food Import Clearance System (FICS) integrated with SWIFT/ICEGATE.

This issues with the approval of the Competent Authority.

[unclear in source]
10.04.2026
(Manvesh Kumar, IRS)
Director (Trade and International Cooperation)
dir-imports@fssai.gov.in

Distribution:

1. All Food Importers / Importer Associations
2. All Customs Brokers / Custom House Agents
3. DG Systems, CBIC
4. Joint Secretary, Customs, CBIC
5. ADG ICEGATE, SWIFT, CBIC
6. ADG, NCTC, CBIC, Mumbai
7. All Regional Directors, FSSAI
8. All Authorised Officers, FSSAI at Ports of Entry
9. All FSSAI Notified Laboratories
10. IT Division, FSSAI – for uploading on FSSAI Website

Copy for information to:

1. PA to Chief Executive Officer, FSSAI
2. Executive Director, FSSAI
3. Guard File