The Madras High Court's December 19 order to maintain status quo on the issue of implementation of second phase of barcoding for the pharma exporters in the country will continue at least for another two weeks as the court did not take up the issue so far for hearing.

According to CIPI general secretary B Sethuraman, who is spearheading the case against barcoding in Madras High Court, the case did not come up for hearing so far and the chances of coming up for another two weeks is bleak as the court is on leave till January 17 due to Pongal celebrations in Tamil Nadu. As there are several other pressing issues before the court, the chances of the case related to barcoding coming up in the next two weeks are dim, he said.

Earlier on December 19, 2011, the Madras High Court had stayed the second phase of barcode implementation for the pharma exporters in the country till January 6, 2012. The court order came just less than two weeks before the union commerce ministry's mandatory implementation of barcoding on secondary level packaging was to come into force from January 1 this year. The court was to hear the issue on January 6, but it was not listed for hearing  so far.

The case against barcoding implementation was filed jointly by Confederation of Indian Pharmaceutical Industry (CIPI) and Indian Drug Manufacturers Association (IDMA). Delivering its order on December 19, the Madras High Court had ordered the union commerce ministry to maintain status quo on the issue of implementation of barcoding for the pharma exporters in the country till January 6.

Even though the union commerce ministry had since then extended the implementation of the second and third phases of barcoding by six months, the court's intervention on the issue is significant as the court's directive will set the tone for the future course of action on the issue, on which both the industry and the government have locked horns for some time.

Ever since the commerce ministry issued a notification on January 10, 2011 rolling out its plans to implement barcoding for pharma exports, the industry has been on warpath against the ministry's decision. In fact, the industry has been running from pillar to post to convince the commerce ministry officials to see reason as they argued that the implementation of barcoding on secondary level packaging will entail a string of regulatory, technical as well as cost issues which will harm the pharma exporters in the country.

Burt, the industry's repeated pleas to defer the barcode implementation fell on the deaf ears of the officials of the commerce ministry, forcing the industry to turn to the last resort of moving court.