India's Ministry of Commerce has issued a notification saying that an inspection certificate will be required for imports of any shredded scrap metal into the country.
Mr Rohit Shah director of the Bombay Metal Exchange told Dow Jones Newswires that "Until now, shredded metal scrap was not required to have any pre shipment certificate. Today onwards, it has become mandatory.”
Mr Shah said that both ferrous and non ferrous shredded scrap metal will require such a certificate adding to costs and preparation time for importers. He was unable to quantify how much metal scrap India imports, but added that it was a significant quantity.
Shredded metal scrap was previously exempt from an inspection certificate as it was assumed that scrap metal put through a shredder was free of any explosives or hazardous materials.
Following recent discoveries of radioactive sources in scrap imports, the Indian Director General of Foreign Trade has issued a new notification that makes Pre shipment Inspection mandatory for all shipments of shredded scrap. The change in procedure will begin with bills of lading starting with March 23rd 2009. Prior to that date, shredded scrap did not require a pre-shipment inspection; other grades of scrap, however, did require the PSI certificates.
According to India’s Directorate General, "Import of metallic waste and scrap listed above in shredded form shall be permitted through all ports of India subject to following conditions: -
a. Importer shall furnish the following documents to the customs at the time of clearance of goods.
I) Pre-shipment inspection certificate as per the format in Annexure I to Appendix 5 from any of the Inspection & Certification agencies given in Appendix-5 to the effect that the consignment does not contain radioactive contaminated material in any form.
II) Copy of the contract between the importer and the exporter stipulating that the consignment does not contain any radioactive contaminated material in any form.
Additionally, imports from Hodaideh, Yemen and Bandar Abbas, Iran will be in shredded form only.
Source : Steel Guru