Certification of metal waste and scrap exports to India improved by rules for Pre-shipment  Inspection Agencies

India's Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) Public Notice No. 12/2015-20 of 18th May 2015 revises rules for Pre-shipment  Inspection  Agencies  (PSIA)  and  for their issuing Pre-Shipment Inspection Certificates (PSIC).

The Notice gives the new rules for Pre-Shipment  Inspection  Agencies  (PSIA) to apply for recognition by an Inter-Ministerial Committee, a status that will need renewing every three years.

The Notice also includes details of the Pre-Shipment Inspection Certificate including that it will be authenticated with the PSIA’s uniquely numbered hologram. The prescribed Certificate has to be provided to DGFT with photographs or a video clip of the PSIA Inspector at the place of inspection, of the testing instrument(s), of the stuffing of each container including the container number, and of its sealing. Digital signatures are proposed.

A PSIA can also carry out inspections in countries where it does not have a full-time equipped branch office but will have to inform DGFT by email beforehand.

The Notice includes in its Appendix-2H the format of the Pre-Shipment Inspection Certificate as 'issued in terms of paragraph 2.54 of Handbook of Procedure for import of shredded, un-shredded, compressed and loose forms of metallic waste and scrap'.

At the BIR International Trade Council today, delegates discussed the Notice and recognised that most large shredders had the capability to affirm the quality and safety of their own shredded scrap so could be either exempted from the pre-shipment inspection certification or recognised at some point in the future for self-inspection.

The revised Notice takes effect on 1st July 2015. Current Pre-Shipment Inspection Certificates can be used until 30th June 2015

Direct link to DGFT document:

Public Notice No. 12/2015-20 dated 18th May 2015