Shillong, May 23: From June 1, cough syrup exporters will need to test their products at specific government laboratories before obtaining approval for exporting the shipments.
Following global concerns over the quality of cough syrups exported by Indian companies, the direction has been issued.
“The export of cough syrup shall be permitted to be exported subject to export samples being tested and production of a certificate of analysis issued by any of the laboratories…, with effect from June 1, 2023,” the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a notification on Monday.
The NABL (National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories) accredited drug testing labs of state governments are also listed among the specified central government labs, along with the Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission, regional drug testing lab (RDTL – Chandigarh), central drugs lab (CDL – Kolkata), central drug testing lab (CDTL – Chennai Hyderabad, Mumbai), and RDTL (Guwahati).
An official explained that the central government has chosen to start a process of a pre-quality inspection of the cough syrup formulations being exported in order to reaffirm India’s commitment to guaranteeing the quality of diverse pharmaceutical products produced from India.
