The apex court had on 19 August upheld a Bombay high court decision quashing an advisory issued by FSSAI on the procedure for product approval
The FSSAI decision on product approvals can bring relief to packaged goods companies.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has decided to scrap product approvals, a decision that is likely to make packaged food companies happy.
FSSAI’s decision to discontinue product approvals came following a Supreme Court order on 19 August questioning the procedure followed for such approvals by the food regulator.
“It is no longer possible for FSSAI to continue with the process of product approvals, which was facilitated through the advisory dated 11 May 2013, in view of the order dated 19 August 2015 of the Supreme Court, whereby the judgement and the order dated 1 August of the Bombay high court has gained finality and the said advisory has ceased to remain operative,” FSSAI said in a public notification issued on Wednesday. “Every endeavour will be made to expedite the regulations governing Section 22 products,” it added.
The apex court had on 19 August 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. The high court was hearing a plea by Mumbai-based Vital Neutraceuticals Pvt. Ltd and lobby group Indian Drug Manufacturers’ Association, which challenged FSSAI’s product approval advisory, claiming that it was beyond the regulator’s powers.
FSSAI introduced the product approval advisory on 11 May 2013 “to streamline the product approval procedure with due consideration to the safety of food and public health, in supersession of earlier advisories, food products for which the standards are not specified under Food Safety Standards Act, 2006, rules and regulations made thereunder will be granted product approval”.
“Product approval has been scrapped. Now, if FSSAI wants to restart anything like this, it will have to bring a fresh regulation and get that passed by Parliament,” said Dheeraj Nair, partner at law firm J. Sagar Associates.
Nair said product approvals were not prevalent in India before 2013. “Globally, companies do not require approval from regulators to launch a product. FSSAI started this as it wanted to control end-products,” he added.
Experts remain unclear about whether companies will now be free to launch new products.
“There is no clarity on new product launches. There may be a lot of legal issues. FSSAI did not clarify on new product launches. It may be the case that product launches may not be allowed at all until a fresh regulation comes in,” said a food lawyer associated with a top law firm seeking anonymity.
Siraj Chaudhry, chairman of Cargill India Pvt. Ltd, said, “Product approvals will now be further delayed”.
Cargill India’s brands include Leonardo range of olive oils, NatureFresh, Sweekar, Rath and Sunflower vanaspati. Chaudhry added that it could mean that FSSAI will go back to following the old procedure, which is very long and cumbersome. “At the moment, there is confusion as to how the process of approval will happen,” he said.
According to a Delhi-based lawyer, product approval was introduced as a short-cut as FSSAI wanted to keep end-products under its watch.
“The whole process of product approvals was actually retrograde in nature and is not prevalent in any other country. Consumers were deprived of new and innovative products,” said Anil Dhanuka, president of the All India Food Processors’ Association.
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