IMPORT OF BLANK SIM CARDS

[GVSSR shankar]

Dear Sir/Madam,

One of our Importer who does the Research and Development activity on 4G /5G mobile technologies and they wanted to Import the Blank SIM Cards to test the chip set performance in their Lab and they are purely meant for the testing.

Are they allowed to Import, since the Mobile Phone without the IMEI Number is Prohibited to Import, any such restrictions are there to Import the blank SIM Cards.

Please Advise.

[DR.MARIAPPAN GOVINDARAJAN]

In my view yes,

[YAGAY and SUN]

Blank Sim Card duly classifiable under HSN 85235210 and according to FTP 2015-2020 it is freely importable goods.

[KASTURI SETHI]

Thanks to M/s. Yagay and sun, Sirs for enrichment of my knowledge.

AI Summary

Import of blank SIM cards permitted for research and testing; treated as freely importable under FTP.
Blank SIM cards used for laboratory chipset testing are permissible to import and are not caught by handset IMEI prohibitions. They are classifiable under HSN 85235210 and are treated as freely importable goods under the applicable foreign trade policy, allowing R&D importers to obtain them under standard customs procedures.