To dispel the fears of the exporters over the impending track and trace system, the commerce ministry gave a sympathetic hearing to issues and concerns raised by the industry in a meeting held this week in Delhi. The ministry assured all the stakeholders that they would duly consider their submissions and take up the matter with the higher ups.

Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil) had been closely working with the stakeholders to highlight and bring into the notice of the department of commerce on the problems relating to certain provisions in the track and trace system. Following the notification, the industry had sought clarification on the primary packaging, the parent- child relationship clause and also on the monocartons that has been mentioned in the same.

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) through a notification recently had issued the procedure for implementation of the track and trace system for exports of pharma and drug consignments. While the notification exempts requirement of barcode labelling and data uploading on central portal for exports of the drugs that were manufactured before April 1, 2015.  It clearly states that from July 1, 2015, all drugs that were manufactured on or after April 1, 2015 can be exported only if both the tertiary and secondary packaging carries bar coding as applicable. It also insists that all the relevant data as prescribed by DGFT should be uploaded on the central portal.

Dr P V Appaji, director general of Pharmexcil, informed that the commerce ministry was keen to address the ongoing issues so that the exporters did not have any problems post implementation. “Keeping in mind all their concerns the ministry expressed keen interest to sort out the matter by reviewing the points as per their recommendation and take appropriate decision. The ministry was very supportive in hearing the industry out on this matter. While at the same time, they also took the occasion to bring in more clarity to the whole issue as well so as to ensure that there was no confusion or fear among the stakeholder on this,” added Dr Appaji.

All the leading association from the country including Indian Drug Manufacturers’ Association (IDMA), representatives from big pharma companies like Dr Reddy’s, Glenmark, Mylan, Sun Pharma, Sandoz, EMIL along with the members of the committee of administration (CoA) of Pharmexcil were privy to this meet.