Providing temporary relief to the pharma exporters, the Ministry of Commerce has issued a notification extending the deadline to fix bar codes on primary level packaging by pharma companies to July 1, 2014. Exporters were to implement bar codes on primary level packaging with effect from July 1, 2013 which has now been deferred.

Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil) said that the extension for bar-coding on primary level packaging on export consignments indicates a strong interest on the part of the governments to address this issue at the earliest. The Council has been advocating for the total exemption of the 2D bar codes on primary level packaging for some time.

It is understood that in the face of the strong objection from the industry on the issue of 2D bar codes, the government may go for a further extension, probably, for another year from 2014 to 2015 or may even completely call off their plan to implement the same.

According to Dr P V Appaji, director general of Pharmexcil, though a temporary relief, this step is sure to buy more time to effectively impress upon the woes of the exporters to the government. “We strongly believe that the government should not implement this as it is not economically feasible for small scale exporters to deal with the huge burden of additional cost associated with the implementation of 2D bar codes. Thus even though there is a reprieve for the exporters for the time being, we will still continue with strong representation to impress our idea upon the government for complete exemption,” he stressed.

According to the members of the Goa Pharmaceutical Manufacturers' Association (GPMA), though 2D bar code as a concept is very good in reconfirming the genuineness of the product when required, it should not be made mandatory as the companies do not have the resources for that. A senior member from the association pointed out that in fact it is ironic on why the government is trying to implement this high-end technology when there is no regulatory requirement on this from the importing countries.

A highly placed source from the industry suggested that if the government want to really adopt this technology to address the danger of counterfeit then they should just implement it on only selected products that have high value and high turnover thus in danger of being counterfeited.

Expressing the views of the ayurveda industry, Prabodh Shah, president of the Gujarat Ayurvedic Aushadh Manufacturers Association (GAAMA), said that it is a welcome news for the sector as it is already struggling to economically stabilize itself to meet the ever changing regulatory scenario. However, he too stressed that taking into account the best of the industries interest, all steps will be taken to convince the  government to abort the plans on implementation.