Stiff EU norms for imports of Indian basmati

In yet another restriction, the European Union (EU) has demanded mandatory certification from Indian authorities for every imported basmati consignment as belonging to specific strains of traditional varieties to be eligible for Customs duty concessions.

The world's largest trading bloc also wants the samples of imported basmati drawn from Indian consignments to be tested here free of cost.

"From April 15 we are certifying cargoes as traditional basmati, for them to be able to avail the benefit of 250 euros a tonne duty concession. The EU now wants even the the specific variety of basmati to be identified on the carton itself," Agricultural and Food Products Export Development Authority Chairman KS Money said.

He said customers were more interested in traditional basmati and to identify one of the six varieties to which a cargo belonged was not required.

Furthermore, even after the consignment has the stamp of approval of the Export Inspection Council (EIC), the EU wants to send its samples for testing back to India.

Money said this was going to be a costly affair, but the EU does not want to bear the expenses. Traders, however, fear that if India concedes to the demand, the EU could flood the testing authorities using one pretext or the other to reject the samples.