The media is abuzz with the news that Perpetual FSSAI License is here and you will no longer need to renew the license anymore. However, what was not conveyed very effectively is that this is not a reality yet. The Niti Ayog has proposed that this be done and the department of health and family welfare has accepted the proposal. However, nothing changes until there is a government order indicating the modalities of this. For now the only government order that has been published is related to changes in the turnover threshold for Registration, State License and Central License.
As per the order, starting 1st of April, the following is the new requirements for the licensing
FSSAI Registration
Food businesses with annual turnover up to ₹1.5 crore must obtain FSSAI Registration. The earlier limit for this was upto 12 Lakhs
FSSAI State License
Food businesses with turnover above ₹1.5 crore and up to ₹50 crore must obtain a State FSSAI License. This was earlier 20 crores
FSSAI Central License
Food businesses with turnover above ₹50 crore must obtain a Central FSSAI License from the earlier 20 crore
Beyond this, the categorisation based on the risk, KOB, their production capacity and product category remains unchanged. For example, if you are manufacturing neutracutical products, you will need a central license no matter how much is your turnover. Similarly, if you have Storage Capacity of More than 10,000MT , you will still need state license etc. There is also some gaps
Other things that remain unclear is that if the existing license is a State License and with the revised limits if the business can move to registration, will they be auto downgraded? If the downgrade will have to initiated by the FBO, will the difference in fees will be refunded? If the modification is initiated by the FBO, will they have to pay for the change?
The Government Order RCD-01002/1/2021-Regulatory-FSSAI-Part(1) dated 13th March mentions nothing about the perpetual license. Considering that this order is called Part(1), it is likely that there is a Part(II) that we can hope to get soon. However, it might take a little while before that comes out considering that there are a lot of nuances that need to be tied up together. Some of them are
- If we are using a risk based model, that needs to be defined clearly. There is some basic model in place but it will need to address a larger variety of topics.
- There is a mention of self enforcement through third party audits. It is yet to be established how this will function and if audits will become mandatory for everyone. For example if the Hygiene Rating audits will be made mandatory for restaurants.
- What will be self declared compliance that will be put in place. At the moment every manufacturer, exporter and RepackerandRelabeller is required to file an annual return. Will this be extended to all the businesses?
All this will become clear only the government order is out. Until then it is premature to decide if things are going to become any easier.