The Maharashtra State Chemists and Druggists Association (MSCDA) has started returning the stocks of Indian System of Medicines (ISM) from the retail outlets to the manufacturers for failure to comply the Package and Commodity Rules, 1977.

Labelling provision 6 (1A) of Package and Commodity Rules, 1977 mandates printing of 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 complaints.

MSCDA president Hukamraj Mehta said that the association has directed its members to return the stocks of ISM medicines to the manufacturers as the Department of Legal Metrology has initiated actions against its members for stocking ISM products without proper consumer care data on the labels.

The MSCDA president said that the association had approached the Department of Legal Metrology for some relaxation, but the authorities refused to give any relaxation. The authorities said that sufficient time has been given to manufacturers and they cannot give any relief as the Law did not permit them to do so. The authorities have asked us to comply with the provisions of the law as per the acts and rules, Mehta said.

"To protect our members from harsh actions and penalty of the department of metrology, we are afraid, we have no other alternative but to return all such stocks that do not comply with the Package and Commodities Rules, 1977 (which do not come under the purview of DPCO-1955)", Mehta said.

Exemption of ISM units from Weights & Measures Rules was a long pending issue and the ISM drug manufacturers had appealed to the union consumer affairs ministry to treat them at par with the allopathic medicines on the packaging issue by exempting them from the amendments to the Standards of Weights & Measures (Packaged Commodities) Rules 1977.

The amendments to this Rules 1977, brought out by the consumer affairs ministry, has put the ASU drug manufacturers in the country in a precarious situation as re-training and informing over 9400 manufacturers and thousands of products and packs are proving to be an arduous task. However, the ministry had exempted the allopathic medicines from the purview of this amendment.