Centre likely to amend rules for packaged commodities to bring uniformity

In a bid to establish uniformity for packaged commodities, the Department of Consumer Affairs on Sunday proposed to amend rules for packaged commodities meant for retail sale.

The Department of Consumer Affairs said it aims to amend the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011.

The Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution said in a statement that this will help establish uniformity for packaged commodities and may apply to commodities sold in bags in retail both offline and online platforms.

“This revised provision will help in establishing uniform standards/requirements for packaged commodities, promoting consistency and fairness across different brands and products, and will help consumers in making informed choices based on complete information,” it said while inviting comments from stakeholders within 15 days, up to July 29.

The Rules currently “require for declaration of mandatory information like name and address of the manufacturer/ packer/ importer, country of origin, common or generic name of the commodity, net quantity, month and year of manufacture, MRP, Unit Sale Price, best before/use by date in case of a commodity become unfit for human consumption, consumer care details, etc, on all pre-packaged commodities in the interest of consumers,” the ministry said.

But the packaged commodities meant for industrial consumers or institutional consumers may be exempted from the new rules, the ministry said.

The rules are applicable on all pre-packaged commodities except “packages of commodities containing a quantity of more than 25 kilogram or 25 litre; cement, fertiliser, and agricultural farm produce sold in bags above 50 kilograms; and packaged commodities meant for industrial consumers or institutional consumers,” the ministry said.

“However, it is observed that the packaged commodities above 25 kg are also available in the market for retail sale, which is not as per the intention to make all declarations on pre-packaged commodities meant for retail sale,” it added.