This document is based on the harmonized system nomenclature developed by World Customs Organisation, Brussels, as further elaborated by Ministry of Finance, Government of India.

Col. 1 Exim Code:

The import policy is assigned at 8 digit level, the operative part of the ITC(HS). Six digit sub-headings which is not split further is converted to eight digit by adding two zeros at the end. At six digit level the classification is completely in harmony with the commodity classification used by Ministry of Finance for the purposes of imposition of customs duty.

Col. 2 Item Description:

This column contains the ITC(HS) description against the respective codes. The coverage of the commodity is based on the harmonized system of nomenclature developed by the World Customs Organisation. However, some adaptations have been made in the descriptions to comply with existing import policy.

Col. 3 Policy:

Two types of Restrictions have been indicated in this column, namely, ‘Prohibited’ and ‘Restricted’.

Items which do not require any licence under the Exim Policy have been denoted as ‘Free’ subject to the Licensing Notes contained in the relevant chapter/heading/sub-heading or as may have been indicated under column 4 mentioning conditions relating to the policy and is also subject to any other law for the time being in force.

Wherever the policy indicated as ‘State Trading Enterprise (STE)’, the nominated STE shall make any such purchases or sales involving imports solely in accordance with the provision at para 2.11 of Foreign Trade Policy.

Col. 4. Policy conditions:

The precise restrictions are detailed in this column, wherever possible. In other cases, the details of the conditions and restrictions are given at the end of the chapter in the form of Licensing Notes. The intention of incorporating this column is solely and exclusively to make the book self contained and user friendly. However, this does not imply that there may be no other conditions applicable on imports.