With the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) is yet to issue notification changing the date on the implementation of barcoding system from the earlier schedule of July 1, confusion and apprehension have gripped the industry and the exports are likely to be hit if notification does not come in time.

The commerce ministry had already sent out strong feelers to the industry that the proposed 2D barcoding and tracking system would not be imposed from July 1 as notified already and it would be delayed to be enforced in a phased manner from October 1, 2011. However, no notification has come yet from the DGFT so far, putting the industry in a fix.

“We are still waiting for the new notification to come these days, most probably before June 30. If it does not come in time, the exports of pharmaceutical products will be hit or perhaps would come to a standstill, as the industry units are yet to install the required technology to comply with the proposal,” a senior leader of the industry said.

Apart from the positive feelers from the commerce ministry, the Pharmexcil also has reportedly informed the members about the likely postponement of the proposal, and hence the industry is not yet prepared for the system, sources said.

The commerce ministry is learnt to have decided to implement the system in a phased manner. As per the new schedule finalised by the Ministry, the barcode will not be mandatory from July 1, 2011 as stipulated by the recent notification. As part of being implemented in a staggered manner, now the barcoding for tertiary packaging will be made compulsory only from October 1, 2011. The barcoding will be binding on secondary packaging only from January 1, 2012. Giving exactly one year more year as preparation time for the industry, the system will be made mandatory for primary packaging only from July 1, 2012.

The Ministry has decided to relax the proposed 2D barcoding and unique 'randomly generic numeric code' packaging after consultations with the stakeholders. The industry leaders and the Pharmexcil have been pressing on the Ministry to put off the deadline to give more time to the manufacturers. The industry has been asked the ministry to push the deadline till January next.