Even as the Union consumer affairs ministry is adamant over its stand that it will not further extend the deadline for complying with the amended Standards of Weights & Measures (Packaged Commodities) Rules 1977 to the Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani (ASU) drug manufacturers in the country, the Maharashtra government has extended the date till March 31, 2008 for the change over.

The Maharashtra government's decision will benefit the 610 ASU units in the state which have been facing problems due to the union consumer affair ministry's steadfast stand on the issue. After amending the Standards of Weights & Measures (Packaged Commodities) Rules 1977 and including the ASU industry in the list in 2006, the ministry had given a time limit of December 31, 2007 to the ASU industries to comply with the rules.

Though the ASU drug manufacturers' main demand has been to treat ASU drug manufacturers in the country on par with the allopathic medicines by exempting them from implementing the Rules on package and label, the industry has been asking for at least some more time to implement the Rules. But the central ministry so far lent only a deaf ear to the demand.

The Maharashtra government's decision to extend the deadline in the state will be of great relief to the 610 ASU units in the state as there were reports of officials conducting searches and raids in these units to verify whether these units have complied with the Rules or not. This has created a lot of inconvenience to the industry which has been crying coarse for at least extending the deadline to comply the Rules, if not exempting them the Rules.

Meanwhile, the Ayurvedic Drug Manufacturers' Association (ADMA) is running from pillar to post to exempt the ASU industry from the Rules on the ground that both Allopathic and ASU industry should be treated at par in the country.

"All manufacturers have only recently aligned their labels to comply with the provisions stated under Rule 161 and to conduct an exercise of retraining and informing over 9400 manufacturers and thousands of products and packs would be an arduous if not impossible task. Moreover the provisions of the Drugs & Cosmetics Act under Rule 161 provide for almost all disclosures that the amendments require in upholding consumer interest", AMDA general secretary Dr Ranjit Puranik said.

As per the amendment in the Standards of Weights & Measures (Packaged Commodities) Rules 1977, the ASU manufacturers have to mention details like the name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, if available, of the person who can be or the office which can be contacted, in case of consumer's complaint on the medicinal pack label, except declaration regarding MRP on every package. Though the amendment was made way back in July 2006, the ministry had extended the date to December 31, 2007 to comply with the new rules.