Regulator issues notice seeking applications from lawyers, legal firms before 7 September to assist it in putting a new system for approvals in place
New Delhi: India’s food safety regulator proposes to introduce fresh regulations on an urgent basis to govern product approvals and imports, an official said.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) scrapped its existing approvals process on 27 August after the Supreme Court on 19 August questioned the procedures followed by the agency for granting such approvals.
“External legal firms will be hired to assist FSSAI in drafting the fresh regulation that would govern product approvals and imports,” said the official cited above, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The new regulations will eventually have to be passed by Parliament.
FSSAI has also issued a public notice seeking applications from lawyers and legal firms before 7 September to assist it in putting a new system for approvals in place.
“In the light of recent judgements of various courts relating to food safety, FSSAI has decided to engage legal assistance for formulation of regulations on an urgent basis to govern product approvals, imports, and procedures of issuing guidelines and administrative instructions,” the regulator said in the notice.
The apex court upheld a Bombay high court decision quashing an advisory issued by FSSAI on the procedure for product approvals. A bench comprising justices J.S. Khehar and N.V. Ramana said there was no ground for interfering with the high court’s verdict and dismissed FSSAI’s appeal.
The Bombay high court had ruled that FSSAI’s advisory on product approvals “did not have force of law” and was beyond its powers as provided by the Food Safety Standards Act, 2006.
Those reverses came on top of a setback delivered to the FSSAI by the Bombay high court on 13 August when it set aside the food regulator’s nationwide ban order on the sale of Nestle India Ltd’s Maggi noodles. The court said FSSAI had been unable to “substantiate” its “tall claim” of the food product being unsafe, but told the manufacturer it will be allowed to resume production and sales once the popular snack is retested and cleared for consumption by government-approved laboratories.
The court also slammed the regulator for “lack of transparency” and passing orders in an “arbitrary manner”.
Legal firms and lawyers who are or have been associated in any present or previous case against FSSAI will not be eligible to apply for assisting the regulator in putting new processes in place, FSSAI said in its public notice.
The ones who would be selected will also be barred from engaging in any food-related cases for a minimum period of five years from the date FSSAI notifies the new regulations, the regulator said.
FSSAI’s decision to introduce fresh regulations also serves to ease concerns about new product launches.
After FSSAI notified its decision to discontinue the existing product approvals process, packaged food and beverages companies had been concerned about new product launches going ahead.
According to Dheeraj Nair, partner at law firm J. Sagar Associates, technically, there is no legal restriction on new product launches given that the FSSAI had discontinued product approvals.
“The good thing is that FSSAI has also understood that it needs legal experts to formulate regulations. Whether companies will go ahead and launch products or not is a business call that they’ll take. Business has to continue. It can’t stop,” said Nair.
As of 30 June, there were more than 1,000 applications for product approvals pending with the FSSAI. Companies have paid the fee of`25,000 with each of these applications.
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