The Export Inspection Council (EIC) was set up by the Government of India in order to ensure sound development of export trade of India through Quality Control and Inspection and for matter connected thereof. 

The principal role of EIC is to inspect and certify products notified by Central Government prior to export.

In addition, on behalf of Central Government EIC also enters into agreements with regulators of trade economies for providing the inspection and certification services in accordance with their specific requirements. The Agreements may be for notified products or non-notified products.

EIC also acts as an  advisory body to the Central Government (Ministry of Commerce), which is empowered to

• Notify commodities which will be subject to quality control and/or inspection prior to export,
• Establish standards of quality for such notified commodities, and
• Specify the type of quality control and /or inspection to be applied to.

EIC itself does not formulate any standard  and instead recognizes the technical regulations or national standards of the importing countries /international standards or those specified by an importer buyer provided that such specifications are not below the minimum standard specification prescribed in the order/notification issued by Govt. of India for the product.

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The following products have been notified by Central Government for inspection and certification by EIC.

• Fish and Fishery Products
• Animals Casing
• Dried Fish
• Live Fish
• Crushed Bones, Ossein & Gelatine
• Basmati Rice
• Black Pepper
• Bivalve Molluscs
• Dried Fish Maws
• Honey
• Milk Products
• Egg products
• Poultry and Poultry Meat

All Certification and inspection services are provided by 5 Export Inspection Agencies (EIAs), that are field organizations of EIC :

• Certification of quality of export commodities through installation of quality assurance systems (In-process Quality Control and Self-Certification) in the exporting units as well as consignment-wise inspection
• Certification of quality of food items for export through installation of Food Safety Management Systems (FSMS) in the food processing units as per international standards.
• Issue of different types of Certificates such as Health, Phytosanitary etc. to exporters under various product schemes for export.
• Issue of Certificates of Origin to exporters under various preferential tariff schemes for export products.

EIC also operates a scheme for Recognition of Inspection Agencies as per ISO 17020 for inspection of ores and minerals and Laboratories as per ISO 17025 for testing of samples drawn during the course of monitoring inspections.

EIC website provides the lists of approved inspection agencies and  laboratories along with their scope/ the indicative product for which approval is granted.

Under the provisions of WTO Agreements, especially the SPS Agreement, several of India's trading partners have imposed import control systems based on international standards, particularly in food sector. These Agreements also provide for recognition of the export certification system of member trading partners provided it meets the requirements of their import control.

Being the official export certification body of India, EIC’s certification is recognized by different authorities like European Commission, USFDA, Sri Lanka, Korea,  Japan Health Authorities, China and Singapore for different products.  Click to know the agreement details with various authorities in this regard. EIC has also provided the list of Approved facilities for different products in India in its website.

Key contact: eic@eicindia.gov.in

Website: www.eicindia.gov.in