Medicine labels to be simplified

Mumbai: With the aim to keep it simple, the Ministry of Health is looking to 'unclutter' the labels on medicines.

The committee looking into the content of drug labels will meet soon, and the industry has been asked to submit its comments, said Mr Amitabh Chandra, Commissioner of Maharashtra's Food and Drug Administration.

The minimum requirements of what is necessary, in terms of safety warnings and retail price, for instance will still be retained on the label. The bi-lingual requirement, in terms of labelling a medicine in Hindi and English, will also be considered, a senior official with the FDA said.

For medicines being exported, there would be a code and companies would not have to print all the contents required to sell locally, he said.

The pharma industry had in the recent past tinkering with its labels, following the implementation of VAT (value-added tax) and an order from the Centre that made it mandatory for companies to print maximum retail price inclusive of taxes.

Mr Chandra was speaking at a conference on contraband and counterfeit products, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry.

Counterfeit products


At the same function, Mr S. Dutt Majumdar, Chief Commissioner of Customs, said that a new rule would be out in a month or two to protect Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs).

'This will help us deal with the problems of counterfeit products and contraband more effectively,' he said.

'The difficulty is that right now the authority to determine IPR violations is not with the Customs,' and the change in rules would help the Customs Department deal with IPR violations, he said.

Dr Rohinton Mehta, ITC's Senior-Manager (legal), said that contraband or smuggled cigarettes continue to smoke a hole of Rs 5,000 crore to the industry and Rs 2,000 crore to the exchequer. Cigarettes smuggled into the country through porous borders are sold at a lower price than the legally available products. They evade all government taxes including import duties, counterveiling duty, octroi etc.