I want to buy spices and teas when I visit India, and I think that a lot of travelers must do the same. I saw on the Indian Customs site that plant products are prohibited from import and export, so are teas and spices exempt from this?
I once carried about 4 kilos of Darjeeling tea in my baggage and I was asked to open it at customs at New Delhi and also at my destination London and at both the places no one had a problem with it. I had to pay a bit of customs duty at London but that was expected as you don't carry 4 Kilos of tea for your own consumption on a 15 days trip. I would imagine spices shouldn't be a problem either but it would be safer to find out what the police is in the US as it might be different from UK.
Well I did not personally have a concern with this when I traveled to India, but one of the people who was on the trip with us did and it ended up working just fine for her. I am not exactly sure of what process she took to get clearance, if there even was any, but I do know that she came back with a good amount of spices from India.
What is meant by plant products, paudu? Do you mean like seeds or actual plants? I'm not sure tea would be included as plant or seeds as it is already processed to a drinkable substance.
I do not think tea is part of that list, but you can make a quick inquiry.That mostly only includes seeds, live plants, and fruit, since it can carry bugs. But a lot should depend on the packaging. If you are buying loose leaf tea and wrap it in saran wrap, it might be a harder sell if anyone calls you on it. But if they are in plastic bags, inside branded cardboard boxes, it will be a lot easier. Just make sure to put it in your checked luggage, sine they investigate that less than carry-ons.
Most of the time you shouldn't have a problem if it's packaged right and it clearly states what's on the package. I imagine though that some places probably differ - not every country's import regulations will be the same - so I would check as to where you're sending it to. The last thing you'd want is to fork out a bunch of money buying products only to have them seized by customs because you've broken a rule.
I don't think it's gonna be a problem as long as you state before hand how much tea or spices you're bringing and pay the duties for those amounts.
There are some certain spices in India I would also like to sample but since I couldn't travel for now, I guess I would need to do more research on them first. Not only do these spices are used for cooking, they also have medicinal properties as well. Since both India and the Philippines are in the southeast Asia there might be a similarity to our spices but I'm not sure if we have what they have. I will need to refer to some sources and find out certain ones that are only native to India.
Hello and thank you for asking your question here! You are right in that plants and plant products are prohibited to bring in airports in India. I know that seeds aren't allowed to be brought into airports. With spices and teas though, it's difficult to really know. There really isn't much problem when it comes to airports in India. You'd have more issues in your home country though. I have heard of stories of people's luggages being searched in customs. Once they found out that they have such spices and teas, the items were seized and they even have to pay fines. However, there were also cases of people who didn't have any trouble bringing spices and teas from India to their home countries. Of course, always pack these items correctly, in sealed bags. The issue with such plant products is that they can harbour viruses if not processed correctly. That's what the authorities are trying to prevent to happen. So yes, it's a case to case basis. You can try your luck but I cannot guarantee that these items won't be confiscated. Good luck!
I don't see why you won't be allowed to bring spices and tea with you when you exit the country. There's absolutely no law prohibiting it unless we are talking about huge quantities of tea and spices. If this is the case, then you need to complete the papers on exporting. If you are taking tea and spices as gifts for friends and family, there won't be any problems at the customs office. But if you are trying to take bulk amounts with you, then it's definitely a different story.
