The Maharashtra FDA has urged the members of the Retail and Dispensing Chemists Association (RDCA) and the Pharmaceutical Wholesalers Association (PWA) to comply with the requirements mentioned in the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

In a seminar-cum-open house discussion 'Scenario Pharma 2005' organised by RDCA and PWA, SW Deshpande, joint commissioner, vigilance, Maharashtra FDA conducted a general awareness programme for RDCA and PWA members on the dos and don'ts that need to be followed as per the Act.

According to RDCA officials, the stringent nature of the Act and the burdensome procedures involved are causing serious hardship to the chemist community in the country. The toughest provision is the Rule 67 of the NDPS Act (Formalities of Consignment Note in Form No. 7). Form No. 7 is a mandatory filling to be done by the wholesaler or the retailer, which has to be filled with information like the names of consignor/ consignee of the narcotic, particulars of the drug like trade marks, batch no., quantity of the drugs procured, date and time receipt by the consignee, etc.

As per the rule, the consignment note in Form 7 needs to be prepared in triplicate and two copies need to be sent to the consignee with one acknowledged copy to be retained for two years.

Although the regulations provided in the Act were stringent, in the interest of public well being a 100 per cent compliance of the Act is indispensable, asserted Deshpande.

Noted patent expert, Gopakumar Nair, threw light on the effect of the product patent regime on the trader community. According to him, in the near future, traders may have to return stocks of copycat drugs, whose originals have been granted patent by the patent office in India. However, he said that the traders would not lose any money in the process, as the companies concerned are accountable to return their (traders') money for the stocks returned. He also assured the traders that in any case of patent violation suit, the trader community would not be held responsible, as the patent is a right granted to a manufacturer and need to be sorted among the manufacturers. In his opinion, the trading community should ask for handling charges of narcotics from the government, as was practised in advanced countries.

According to chartered accountant CV Thakker, although VAT will give a transparent picture of taxes being charged from the consumer, it will increase the discomfort for the traders. The inter-state purchase of goods will diminish as the 4 per cent VAT paid by a trader in one state will not be refunded by the other. Besides, despite having VAT complied, a trader will have to continue paying other charges like cess, and octroi. Traders having a turnover of below Rs 5 lakh have to pay only one per cent turnover tax, whereas those in the range between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 50 lakh will have to pay 4 per cent VAT. For traders opting for the composition of 1 per cent instead, tax paid by him will not be entitled for a refund, are some of the dilemmas for the traders, he opined.