17. Control of export of tea and tea seed.—(1) No tea shall be exported unless covered by a licence
issued by or on behalf of the Board.
(2) No tea seed shall be exported unless covered by a permit issued by or on behalf of the Central
Government.
(3) No tea or tea seed shall be taken by land, sea or air out of any State to any of the 2*** Portuguese
Settlements bounded by India, unless covered by a permit issued by or on behalf of the Board.
18. Tea or tea seed for export to be covered by licence or permit.—(1) No consignment of tea or
tea seed shall be shipped or waterborne to be shipped for export or shall be exported until the owner has
delivered to the Customs-collector a valid export licence or special export licence or a valid permit issued
by or on behalf of the Board or the Central Government, as the case may be, covering the quantity to be
shipped.
1. Ins. by Act 68 of 1980, s. 4 (w.e.f. 11-6-1976).
2. The words “French or” omitted by the A.O. (No. 3), 1956 (w.e.f. 1-11-1956).
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(2) No consignment of tea or tea seed shall be shipped or waterborne to be shipped for carriage (or
shall be taken by land or air) to any of the 1* * * Portuguese Settlements bounded by India until the owner
has delivered to the Customs-collector a permit issued by or on behalf of the Board covering the quantity
to be shipped.
(3) No permit for the passage of any tea or tea seed by land into any of the 1* * * Portuguese
Settlement bounded by India shall be granted under sub-section (1) of section 5 of the Land Customs Act,
1924 (19 of 1924), unless the application for such permit is accompanied by a permit granted in this
behalf by the Board covering the quantity to be passed.
19. Export allotment.—The Central Government shall, after consulting the Board and paying due
regard to all interests concerned and to the standard export figure, declare by notification in the Official
Gazette, the export allotment for each financial year:
Provided that the Central Government may by subsequent notification at any time during, the
financial year alter the export allotment and thereupon the export allotment as so altered shall be the
export allotment for that year.
20. Export quotas and licences.—(1) Subject to such conditions as may be prescribed, any tea estate
or any sub-division of a tea estate shall have the right to receive under this Act an export quota for each
financial year.
(2) The export quota of a tea estate, or a sub-division of a tea estate, that is, the total quantity of tea
which may be exported by the owner of a tea estate or a sub-division of a tea estate during the financial
year, shall be an amount determined by the Board in accordance with such principles as may be
prescribed:
Provided that when an export allotment is altered under the provisions of section 19, the export quota
shall be liable to be altered accordingly.
(3) The total export quotas allotted to tea estates and to sub-divisions thereof at any time during any
financial year shall not exceed the export allotment for the time being for that year.
21. Right to export licences.—(1) The owner of a tea estate or a sub-division of a tea estate to which
an export quota has been allotted for any financial year shall have the right to obtain at any time export
licences during that year to cover the export of tea up to the amount of the unexhausted balance of the
quota, that is, up to the amount of the quota less the amount for which the export licences have already
been issued against it.
(2) The right of the owner of a tea estate or a sub-division of a tea estate under this section may be
transferred subject to such conditions as may be prescribed, and the transferee of any such right may
again transfer the whole or any part of his right to the owner of a tea estate, or a sub-division of a tea
estate but not to any other person:
Provided that nothing in this sub-section shall operate to restrict the issue of licences for the export of
tea expressed to be sold with export rights.
(3) The owner of any tea estate or any sub-division of a tea estate to which an export quota has been
allotted or any person to whom he has transferred his rights may at any time before the 21st day of March
of the financial year to which the quota relates apply in writing to the Board for an export licence to cover
the export of tea up to the amount of the amount of the unexhausted balance of the quota.
1. The words “French or” omitted by the A.O. (No. 3), 1956 (w.e.f. 1-11-1956).
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(4) Every licence shall be in duplicate in the prescribed form, shall bear the date of its issue and shall
be valid up to the end of the financial year in which it is issued:
Provided that, save as provided in section 22, the Board shall not issue any export licence after the
end of the financial year in which the application for licence was made.
22. Special Export Licences.—(1) Where tea in respect of which an export licence has been or could
have been granted under this Act has not been exported before the end of the financial year in which the
licence was or could have been issued, the person to whom the licence was or could have been granted
may, before the 14th day of April of the following financial year forward an application to the Board for a
special export licence covering the same quantity of tea, and the Board shall, on receipt of the prescribed
fee, if any, issue a special export licence accordingly.
(2) A person to whom a special export licence has been issued under sub-section (1) may transfer the
special export licence with all the rights conferred thereby to a person or persons nominated by him, but a
licence once so transferred shall not be further transferable.
(3) A special licence shall be in duplicate in the prescribed form, shall bear the date of its issue and
shall be valid up to the 31st day of May of the financial year in which it was issued.
(4) The quantity of tea covered by a special export licence shall be accounted for against the export
quota of the year in which the original licence was or could have been issued under this Act.
(5) Notwithstanding anything contained in the foregoing sub-sections the Board may, with the general
or special previous sanction of the Central Government, refuse to issue a special export licence or
postpone for so long as the Central Government may require the issue of any special export licence.
23. Board to maintain accounts of quotas.—(1) The Board shall maintain an account of every
export quota showing, in addition to such other particulars as the Board may think fit, the licences issued
against it and the unexhausted balance.
(2) Any owner of a tea estate or a sub-division of a tea estate shall be entitled, on payment of the
requisite fee, to a copy of the account relating to his quota certified in the manner laid down in the bylaws made by the Board.
24. Limitation of application of chapter.—Nothing in this Chapter shall apply to tea—
(a) proved to the satisfaction of the 1
[Commissioner of Customs] to have been imported into
India from any part outside India; or
(b) shipped as stores on board any vessel or aircraft in such quantity as the Customs-Collector
considers reasonable having regard to the number of the crew and passengers and length of the
voyage on which the vessel or aircraft is about to depart; or
(c) exported by post in packages 2
[not exceeding five kilograms] in weight; or
(d) exported with the previous sanction of the Central Government, within the limits prescribed in
this behalf, by a Red Cross Society or by any organisation for providing amenities for troops
overseas; or
(e) taken as part of the personal luggage of a passenger.