This public notice concerns itself with only duty-free imports of areca nut, either on the basis of advance authorisation or duty-free import authorisation (DFIA). It may be noted that duty-paid imports are not affected by this public notice.
Prior to the issue of this public notice, anyone could have imported areca nut under the duty-free schemes. After the issue of this public notice, the class of persons permitted to effect such imports would get limited to (a) actual users and (b) such importers only and only when the respective Standard Input Output Norms (SION) specifically includes areca nut as a permissible input.
"Therefore, if areca nut is not specifically listed as a permissible input, traders and non-manufacturing units would not be permitted to import areca nut under Advance Authorisation and/or DFIA. It is not the government's intention to cause any impediment to manufacturing units (actual users). But non-manufacturing units would face a restriction as explained above," added Pujari.
