Centre restricts import of laptops, PCs & tablets

New Delhi, August 3 : The Central government on Thursday notified restrictions on import of laptops, tablets, personal computers and servers.

A notification issued by Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) on Thursday said that though import of these items will be allowed against a licence, certain use cases have been exempted from the restrictions.

These are, import of one laptop, tablet, personal computer, or ultra-small form factor computer through online portals, couriers, or post.

Imports under baggage rules also don’t fall under these restrictions, the DGFT notification said.

Around 20 of these items have been exempted from an import licence per consignment for purposes like research and development, testing, benchmarking and evaluation, repair and re-export and for product development.

Given imports shall be allowed subject to the condition that the imported goods shall be used for the stated purposes only and will not be sold.

Further, after the intended purpose, the products would either be destroyed beyond use or re-exported, the notification said further.

The import of these electronic goods, however, is allowed when they are an “essential” part of a capital good.