Echoing the concerns of its members, the Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council (Pharmexcil) has recently sent a list of suggestions to the union commerce ministry on the introduction of barcoding for pharmaceutical exports.

Sources said that the ministry is likely to take up the proposals for discussion in a couple of weeks as the deadline for the introduction of barcode is July 1. It is learnt the council has made 10 suggestions, including postponing of the July 1 deadline for the introduction of barcode, phased implementation of barcoding, considering the difficulties of small scale sector and packaging requirements. Pharmexcil expressed hope that the ministry may accommodate a few of its suggestions if not all.

“Commerce ministry is very open to suggestions and we have sent a list of proposals on the introduction of barcoding. Our priority is that our members should not get worried and we have asked the government to give a clarification on the issue”, Dr P V Appaji, executive director, Pharmexcil told Pharmabiz.

Earlier it had invited comments from its members on the issue and set up a technical committee, involving both big and small companies, under Torrent Pharma to draft some suggestions and the administrative members of the council analysed the suggestions drafted by the technical committee. It had also sought inputs from Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI), multinational companies and large domestic companies such as Lupin, Dr. Reddy’s and Ranbaxy and after scrutinizing all the suggestions Pharmexcil sent a list to the government.

The council said that it has given adequate justifications for all the proposals it submitted to the ministry. It has also stressed the need for extreme care in educating and involving the industry on the introduction of barcoding pharmaceutical exports.