Drug formulations export: Govt extends dates for track system

NEW DELHI: The Commerce Ministry said it has extended the dates for putting track and trace system on the consignments of drug formulations.

For non-SSI (small scale industry) manufactured drugs, the date has been extended till April 2016 and for SSIs it will be April 2017.

The move is expected to give a relief to the pharmaceutical exporters.

"...the dates for implementation of Track and Trace system for export of drug formulations along with maintaining the parent-child relationship in packaging have been extended to 01.04.2016 for non SSI manufactured drugs and to April 1, 2017 for SSI manufactured drugs," the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a public notice.

Industry body Pharmexcil said that earlier the date was October 2015.

The manufacturer or the exporter of drug formulations would have to print the barcode as per global standard at different packaging levels - primary, secondary and tertiary - to facilitate tracking and tracing of their products.

Barcode helps in tracking and tracing origin of drugs, which minimises the chances of genuine medicines being considered spurious, sub-standard or counterfeit.