COVID Second Wave: Customs Duty, Health Cess Waived On Import Of Oxygen, Vaccines

New Delhi: Much needs to be done by the Centre to arrest the COVID-19 situation in the country, which is fast spiralling out of control.

One of the steps which has been taken is to waive basic customs duty and health cess on import of coronavirus vaccines and oxygen needed to treat critically ill patients.

The decision, taken after Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting to discuss ways to boost the battle against coronavirus, will be effective with immediate effect and apply for a period of three months.

“Import of equipment related to providing oxygen to patients needs to be expedited. In order to augment their production and availability and to meet the rising demand, it was decided to grant full exemption from Basic Customs Duty and health cess on import of the following items related to Oxygen and Oxygen related equipment for a period of three months with immediate effect,” the government stated.

Following are oxygen-related items exempt from customs duty and health cess:

Medical grade oxygen, oxygen concentrator along with flow meter, regulator, connectors and tubing, vacuum pressure swing absorption (VPSA) and pressure swing absorption (PSA) oxygen plants, cryogenic oxygen air separation units (ASUs) producing liquid or gaseous oxygen, oxygen canister, oxygen filling systems, oxygen storage tanks, oxygen cylinders including cryogenic cylinders and tanks, oxygen generators, ISO containers for shipping oxygen, and cryogenic road transport tanks for oxygen.

Other items that are exempt are as follows:

Parts of all items to be used for manufacture of equipment for production, transportation, distribution or storage of oxygen, any other device from which oxygen can be generated, ventilators (capable of functioning as high-flow devices) with a nasal cannula; compressors including all accessories and tubing; humidifiers and viral filters, high flow nasal cannula device with all attachments, helmets for use with non-invasive ventilation, non-invasive ventilation oronasal masks for ICU ventilators, and non-invasive ventilation nasal masks for ICU ventilators.