India's Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), acting in response to urgent and strident requests from ISRI, the BIR, and the Metals Recycling Association of India (MRAI), has issued another change to its recently revised Handbook of Procedures for Foreign Trade Policy that for all intents and purposes allows for self-inspection and certification of shipments of processed scrap metal to India.
This
most recent change should result in less burdensome requirements for exporters of scrap metal to India. In essence, exporters of scrap metal that has been shredded, cut sheared, rotor sheared, briquetted, baled, bundled, or is in the form of turnings, borings, granules, or nodules may ship such materials to certain specified ports in India (Cochin, Ennore, Goa, Haldia, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), Kolkata, New Mangalore, Tuticorin, and Visakhapatnam) without obtaining a Pre Shipment Inspection Certificate (PSIC)
from a third party Pre Shipment Inspection Agency (PSIA) so long as certain requirements are met.
The main requirements are that the importer certify that: 1) it is importing
processed scrap metal; (2) the processed scrap metal does not contain any symbol related to ionizing radiation and/or any marking related to transport of dangerous goods classified as Class 7, as per United Nations classification; (3) the consignment does not contain any type of arms, ammunition, mines, shells, cartridges, or any other explosive material in any form, either used or otherwise; and (4) the consignment was checked for radiation level and it does not have radiation level (gamma and neutron) in excess of natural background. The importer must also take responsibility for re-exporting any materials that do not conform to the criteria set forth in the previous sentence, post a bond roughly equivalent to U.S. $16,000 and acknowledge that the importer might be liable for money damages to the government of India in the event of any nonconformance of the materials. The importer must also furnish to India Customs a copy of the contract between the importer and the exporter showing that the exporter agrees to make certain that the consignment meets the above stated requirements.
Beyond that, the exporter is required to complete a certificate similar in form to that set forth in Appendix-2H-1 to the latest announcement that requests certain information about the exporter and an affirmation that the exporter has inspected the material to assure that it conforms to the requirements set forth above.