The Hindu : Business : New Tea Order to enforce quality norms

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 06, 2005

Business

Business

New Tea Order to enforce quality norms

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, APRIL 5. In a bid to ensure quality and retain the brand equity of Indian tea, the Union Government today issued a new tea control order stipulating that all tea, meant for international trade, will have to be certified by the Tea Board. The new Tea (Distribution and Export) Control Order 2005 under the provisions of the Tea Act, 1953 supersedes the Tea Control Order, 1957. It comes into effect retrospectively from April 1.

An official release says the new order stipulates that all tea consignments meant for imports or exports would have to undergo a certification procedure under which the quality of tea and the country of its origin would be determined and displayed. "All tea, whether imported or exported would be required to conform to the specifications cited in the new Order,'' it stated.

The Tea Board would be the nodal agency of the certification exercise. The non-preferential Certification of Origin in respect of each consignment of tea exports would be issued by the Tea Board or any of its designated agencies.

The new order also prescribes a minimum value addition norm of 50 per cent on export of imported tea and stipulates a time period of six months from the date of import to export the same. Consequential changes have been made in the Handbook of Procedures under the Foreign Trade Policy and these have been notified by the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) separately.

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