Ministry of Consumer Affairs and Food and Public Distribution brought in amendments to the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011, under which various substantive changes have been brought:
i. The “best before or use by the date, month and year” shall be mentioned on the label if the packet contains commodity which becomes unfit for consumption.
ii. Increased font size for “best before”, “date of manufacturing”, “name of producer”, etc to enable users to read them easily before consumption
iii. For the medical devices like stents, valve, orthopaedic implants, syringe and tools for operations under the drugs category, it is mandatory for producers to clearly mention MRP on their devices.
iv. E-commerce platforms shall contain details like name and address of the manufacturer, packer and importer, name of the commodity, net contents, retail sale price, consumer care complaint, dimensions, etc.
v. Placing barcode and authorized logos of Government schemes, such as Swatch Bharat Mission on the package has been made discretionary.
vi. No manufacturer or packer or importer shall declare different maximum retail prices on an identical pre-packaged commodity.
These rules shall come into force on the 1st day of January, 2018.