Business

Wool Imports Made Easier

Union Textiles Minister, Dr K S Rao, has resolved a long pending demand of wool importers – difficulty in importing wool for the last three years, due to quarantine issues. Some quarantine officers and customs officers had, in fact, stopped clearance of wool imports seeking animal quarantine clearance/NOC. This has impacted exports of wool products.

Following representations and meetings from wool industry stakeholders, the textiles minister met with the Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar. Pawar directed the Department of Animal

Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture to issue a clarification.

The Office Memorandum clarifies that the issue of requirement of Sanitary Import Permit/ NOC for import of wool is to be decided as per the notification No.S.O.794(E) dated 28.03.2008 issued by the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries. Accordingly as per clause 3(II)(V) of the Notification No.794(E)

dated 28.3.2008, import of following varieties of wool do not require Sanitary Import Permit(SIP) from Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, or ‘No Objection Certificate’ from the Animal

Quarantine and Certification Services(AQCS) of the designated port. Hence, the consignment of the following varieties of wool need not be referred to AQCS of the concerned port for issuance of NOC for clearance of the product:

“garneted stock of wool or of fine or coarse animal hair, wool and fine or coarse animal hair, carded or combed (including

combed wool in fragments), yarn of carded wool not put up for retail sale, yarn of combed wool not put up for retail sale, yarn of fine animal hair (carded or combed) not put up for retail sale, yarn of wool or of fine animal hair put up for retail sale, yarn of coarse animal hair or of horse hair (including gimped horse hair yarn whether or not put up for retail sale), woven fabrics of carded wool or carded fine animal hair, woven fabrics of combed wool or carded fine animal hair, woven fabrics of coarse animal hair or of horse hair”