Tatsat Chronicle Magazine

Drugs And Food For Special Medical Purposes Exempted From Customs Duty

March 30, 2023
Drugs and Special Food

The Central Government has given full exemption from basic customs duty on all drugs and food for special medical purposes imported for personal use for treatment of all rare diseases listed under the National Policy for Rare Diseases, 2021, through a general exemption notification.

In order to avail this exemption, the individual importer has to produce a certificate from Central or State Director Health Services or District Medical Officer or Civil Surgeon of the district.

Drugs and medicines generally attract basic customs duty of 10%, while some categories of lifesaving drugs and vaccines attract concessional rate of 5% or Nil.

While exemptions have already been provided to specified drugs for treatment of Spinal Muscular Atrophy or Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, the Government has been receiving many representations seeking customs duty relief for drugs and medicines used in treatment of  other Rare Diseases.

Drugs or special foods required for the treatment of these diseases are expensive and need to be imported. It is estimated that for a child weighing 10 kg, the annual cost of treatment for some rare diseases, may vary from ₹10 lakh to more than Rs one crore per year with treatment being lifelong and drug dose and cost, increasing with age and weight.

This exemption will result in substantial cost savings and provide much needed relief to the patients, an official statement said.

The Government has also fully exempted Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) used in treatment of various cancers from basic customs duty.

Vivek Mukherji

He is the Executive Editor of Tatsat Chronicle and has more than 22 years of experience during which he held several senior editorial positions in print publications, news television and digital media platforms. The former Managing Editor of Sports Illustrated has launched two editions of one India’s largest circulating English newspapers and five magazines. He has written and reported on wide-ranging subjects from crime to politics, from technology to sports, from bureaucracy and governance to environmental issues.