Ayurvedic medicine exporters across the country are gravely worried about the alleged harassment meted out by the forest department officials against them when it comes to the export clearance of their herbal formulations. The exporters complain that the officials have been compelling them to produce unnecessary certifications to clear each and every consignment of their formulation. While the forest officials' claim that their inspections are carried out to check for the presence of endangered species of plants that has been banned for export, the manufacturers argue that the rules are meant to check the export of raw herbs and not value added extracts/ derivatives of the plants.

Interestingly, the central government, in recognition to the export potential of herbal formulations had facilitated free export of formulations (notification No 24 RE-98/1997-2002 dt 14 October 1998) though the plant and plant portions as such drawn from the wild from which these formulations are made, are prohibited for exports.

According to senior officials of Ayurvedic companies, each product of theirs is getting marketing clearance from the concerned drug control authorities. "We always produce a copy of the certificate which shows that our product has been approved by the drugs control authorities for exports. Even then we are asked to send samples of each and every consignment/product to the regional forest office/ district agriculture office etc and get another clearance certificate from them. Even if this is not sufficient, the wild life officials at the sea / airports would insist on physical inspection and thereby creating unnecessary delays for fulfilling the export commitments," they say. Even exports of samples are not spared from this inspection, it is learnt. Exporters say that the manufacturers need to ensure time bound delivery of product samples for clinching early deals with the potential customers abroad. "With more and more competitors entering into the field of herb based medicines, the government's attitude should have been just the opposite of what they are doing now. Instead of being the facilitator of exports, they are creating unwanted hurdles," they complain.

The exporters have pointed out the relaxations given to them in the Exim Policy 2002-07 which says that "plant portions obtained from the wild and their cultivated varieties not covered under schedule 2 appendix 2 of this book except for the extracts and derivatives including value added herbal formulations of such plants for which these conditions shall not apply" and consider the demands made by the forest department officials as illegal. They also say that their shipments are being subjected to delays on imported raw materials in spite of the fact that hurdle free import of raw materials meant for value addition and re-export are assured in the Exim Policy.

Ayurvedic exporters have also approached the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) through the Basic Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals & Cosmetics Export Promotion Council (Chemexcil) and sought a clarification as to whether policy put up by the government can be contorted / misinterpreted by each department ostensibly under the garb of their internal circulars which are not in public domain.