The Madras High Court has dismissed the industry's petition against the implementation of barcode on pharma exports, clearing the legal hurdle in the way of implementation of barcoding for all pharma exports by the  commerce ministry from January 1, 2013.

Delivering its much awaited final judgement in the case, which has been pending for the last more than one year, the court on December 21 said that it accepted the government's argument for the implementing the barcode on pharma packs for exports for maintaining quality. The court did not accept the industry's argument on cost aspects on implementing barcode as it said that no cost is too much when it relates to quality.

However, the full details of the judgement is yet to come as the court has gone on 10-day Christmas recess from December 22.

Meanwhile, sources from the union commerce ministry said that the ministry may further extend the date of implementation of bar code to April 1, 2013, keeping in view the technical difficulties involved in the implementation of bar coding for which the industry is not yet fully prepared.

The court order is a big setback for the industry as it has been banking on the court to dismiss the commerce ministry's attempt to implement barcoding, which the industry termed as impracticable, both economically as well as logistically.

The barcoding issue dates back to January 10, 2011 when the commerce ministry issued a notification as per which bar coding was to be enforced in phased manner in the country for tertiary packaging from October 1, 2011, for secondary packaging from January 1, 2012 and for primary packaging from July 1, 2012.

But, there was stiff resistance from the industry to the commerce ministry's decision. Ever since the ministry rolled out its plans, the industry has literally been on warpath against the ministry's decision. When its repeated pleas to defer the barcode implementation fell on the deaf ears of the officials of the commerce ministry, the industry moved Madras high court on December 19, 2011, and the court stayed the second phase of barcode implementation. The court was jointly moved by Confederation of Indian Pharmaceutical Industry (CIPI) and Indian Drug Manufacturers' Association (IDMA).