India postpones deadline for drug export barcoding again

India has postponed the deadline for barcoding on primary and secondary drug packaging for a second time.

The second extension, which pushes deadlines back into 2013, comes six months after the
Indian Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) first postponed the implementation date.

Indian drugmakers now have until January 1 to add barcodes to the secondary packaging of pharmaceutical exports. The deadline for primary packaging has also been pushed back until July 1, 2013.

Delays to the deadline follow opposition to the implementation date by industry groups. Last year a High Court in Chennai ruled in favour of a petition by industry groups that called for a delay to the deadline.

Since the ruling the DGFT has twice pushed back the implementation date. Under the original timeline outlined in January 2011 Indian manufacturers were required to implement barcoding of pharmaceutical exports by July of last year.

The deadline was described as challenging by observers and industry groups, such as the Confederation of Indian Pharmaceutical Industries (CIPI) and Indian Drugs Manufacturers Association (IDMA), called for more time to implement the technology.