Even as the Union commerce ministry is all set to implement barcoding at tertiary packing level for export of pharma products from October 1 this year, the industry has asked the government to remove the monopoly of GS1 for barcoding as it is costlier than other similar barcoding technologies.


According to the union commerce ministry's notification, the barcoding system would be implemented in a phased manner from October 1, 2011 on tertiary packing, instead of the earlier stipulated date of July 1, 2011. The compulsory implementation of track and trace system on secondary level packaging will be in effect from January 1, 2012 and that on primary packing from July 1, 2012, thus giving another one year window period for the industry.


Apart from making barcoding mandatory, the government has made it mandatory to use the GS1 technology for its implementation. “Exporter of pharmaceutical products will build track and trace capability for their exported medicines using barcode technology as per GS 1 global standards. The same will need to be done at primary, secondary and tertiary level packaging labels,” the notification said. M/s GS-1 is a Canadian company to whom the government has handed out the sole contract for India.


But the industry, especially the small players, has called upon the government to remove monopoly of GS1 as the provider of barcoding technologies as it is a costly affair. The industry contends that why should the government insist on GS1, when there are other similar technologies which are available free of cost to the exporters.


The SSIs have taken up the matter with the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP), pleading the financial unviability of barcoding as the cost of registration with M/s GS-1 shall be around Rs.20,000 per month apart from monthly cost of say Rs.1,00,000 for barcoding accessories like inks etc. for an average SME. The SSIs have asked the DoP to take up the issue with the union commerce ministry to find an amicable solution.