In a big relief, the 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 Servicesor District Medical Officer/Civil Surgeon of the district. Drugs/Medicines generally attract basic customs duty of 10%, while some categories of lifesaving drugs/vaccines attract concessional rate of 5% or Nil.
This exemption will result in substantial cost savings and provide much needed relief to the patients. The Government has also fully exempted Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) used in treatment of various cancers from basic customs duty.
