Document Date: April 10, 2026
Applicable Act / Rule: Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 and Food Safety and Standards (Import) Regulations, 2017
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) regulates import of food articles and requires payment of prescribed fees upon scrutiny of applications under the Import Regulations, 2017. Under the existing process in the Food Import Clearance System (FICS), import consignments undergo document scrutiny, followed by payment of fees, and thereafter visual inspection and sampling. The processing workflow was dependent on completion of fee payment at an early stage, leading to delays in inspection and clearance timelines.
FSSAI has introduced flexibility in the timing of fee payment under the SWIFT/FICS system.
Importers / Customs Brokers are now allowed to make the requisite fee payment after Visual Inspection or before generation of Provisional No Objection Certificate (P-NOC), No Objection Certificate (NOC), or Non-Conformance Report (NCR), as applicable.
The requirement to make fee payment prior to visual inspection has been removed.
However, payment of all applicable fees remains mandatory before generation of the final clearance decision, i.e., P-NOC / NOC / NCC. Final certificates will be issued by FSSAI only after completion of requisite fee payment.
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