Consumer Affairs Ministry Amends Norms for Packaged Goods

· Only Date of manufacture necessary, date of packing not required

· Quantity declaration norm simplified

· Retail price on per unit basis to indicated on each pack

The revised norms will come into effect from April 1

<G.S.R. 779(E) dated 02.11.2021>

From next year, companies will need to declare retail prices per unit on the label of their packaged products. This is among the various amendments made in the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules 2011, to ensure consumers can make an informed choice. The revised norms will come into effect from April 1.

Along with Maximum Retail Price, the manufacturers will also need to mention the MRP per kg or per litre for items weighing more than one kg or one litre and per gram or per millilitres (ml) for items weighing less than one kg or litre. Similar norms will be implemented for products in terms of metres and centimetres.

“A new provision has been introduced to indicate the unit sale price on pre-packed commodities, which will allow easier comparison of the prices of the commodities at the time of purchase,” the Ministry said in a statement.

As of now companies had the option to mention month and year of import or month and year of manufacturing or month and year of pre-packaging. “Representation from industry and associations in this respect has been received to remove this ambiguity,” the Ministry said. It added that for reducing compliance burden and removing the ambiguity, under the revised rules month and year in which the packaged item has been manufactured will need to be declared on the label.

So far, manufacturers needed to adhere to a particular format for mentioning MRP on the labels and under the revised rules they have been allowed to mention the MRP in a simplified manner by removing illustrations, the Ministry added.

Compliance burden eased

Rules for declaring the commodities sold in pre-packed form in numbers have also been eased for reducing the compliance burden for manufacturer /importer/packer.

“Earlier such declarations could be denoted as ‘N’ (numbers) or ‘U’ (units) only. Now, the quantities can be expressed in terms of the number or unit or piece or pair or set or such other word which represents the quantity in the package. This will remove the ambiguity of declaration of quantity sold by number in pre packed commodities,” the statement added.