Government lifts all restrictions on export of alcohol-based hand sanitizers

Government has lifted all restrictions on the export of alcohol-based hand sanitizers. Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) in a notification said, the export of alcohol-based hand sanitizers in a container with dispenser pumps is free for export making the export of alcohol-based hand sanitizers in any form or packaging freely exportable, with immediate effect.

Amid the COVID-19 outbreak, the government had banned the export of all types of sanitizers in March 2020 but limited the restriction in May 2020 to only alcohol-based sanitizers.

In June, the government further relaxed the export restrictions and limited the ban on alcohol-based hand sanitizers to only those in containers with dispenser pumps.

Apart from this, DGFT on Thursday banned imports of air conditioners with refrigerants. The action was taken to encourage domestic production and cut import of non-essential items. Similar, import bans were placed on certain new pneumatic tyres used in motor cars, busses, lorries and motorcycles in June 2020.