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Exporting frozen shrimp and seafood (HS 0306) — listing and residues

Last reviewed 2026-10 · 4 sections

Frozen shrimp is one of India's largest agricultural exports and one of the most heavily regulated. The binding constraints are the approval of the processing establishment and residue testing — not the tariff.

What HS 0306 covers

  • 0306 covers crustaceans — shrimp and prawns — whether in shell or not, split first by state: live / fresh or chilled, frozen, and dried, salted or in brine. Frozen and chilled are different lines.
  • The species matters for national lines and for quota or licence regimes, and 'shrimp' and 'prawn' are not distinguished consistently between nomenclatures — check the destination schedule, not the trade name.
  • Glazed or processed products can fall in a different line from the raw frozen material, and a prepared or preserved product moves to a completely different chapter.

The gate: establishment listing

For the EU, seafood can only enter from a processing establishment that has been approved and listed, and the exporting country must have a recognised competent authority. In India that authority is the seafood development authority, and the plant approval is a facilities-and-hygiene process, not a document you can raise at shipment.

The practical implication is the one exporters learn the hard way: you cannot decide to sell shrimp into the EU and ship next month. The plant has to be listed first. Confirm your processor's listing status and the specific product/process scope of that listing.

Residues and traceability

  • Antibiotic residues — chloramphenicol and nitrofurans are prohibited and routinely tested. A positive finding can trigger alerts, import restrictions and delisting of the establishment. The control point is the hatchery and farm, not the processing line.
  • US Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) requires chain-of-custody data from harvest to entry for shrimp and certain other species. The US importer reports it, but the data comes from the supply chain — so you need to be able to produce it.
  • EU IUU catch documentation applies to marine-caught product; keep the catch and landing records aligned with the consignment.

Glaze weight — where money is actually lost

Frozen shrimp is usually glazed with a protective ice layer. Buyers contract on net weight excluding glaze, and customs value is assessed on the goods, not the ice. A glaze percentage that drifts — or that is measured differently by buyer and seller — shows up as a short-weight claim or a valuation query. State the glaze percentage and the basis of measurement explicitly on the invoice and the packing list.

Use the tools

Sources & further reading

MPEDA — Marine Products Export Development Authority NOAA — Seafood Import Monitoring Program EU DG SANTE — food safety & imports

These guides summarise public material from the bodies named above. They are general information, not advice on a specific shipment, and they are not a substitute for a ruling from your customs authority or a qualified customs broker / consultant.

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