Are you ready for the Legal Metrology deadline?

6/19/2018

Following the publication of The Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Amendment Rules, 2017 on 23^rd June, 2017, there have been several notifications issued by the Director of Legal Metrology. The first notification on 4^th July, 2017 concerned relaxation of the aforementioned amendment rules to facilitate implementation of the provisions of the GST Act and Rules. According to this notification, if the MRP of a pre-packaged commodity undergoes revision “on account of incidence of tax”, the revised MRP on unsold stock can be declared through stickers/online printing/stamping, provided, among other conditions, the original MRP is not overwritten or obscured by the revised MRP sticker.

The latest notification dated 14^th June, 2018, allows manufacturers/packers/importers “for putting stickers/tags/online printing etc. up-to 31^st July, 2018 for making the mandatory declarations required”

Here is a quick look at the ‘Declarations to be made on every package’:

• Name and Address
  • Of the manufacturer (or)
  • Of the manufacturer and packer, where the manufacturer is not the packer
  • Of the importer
• Common or generic names of the commodity contained in the package
  • Name and number/quantity of each product, where multiple products are packed in one package
• Net Quantity in terms of standard unit of weight or measure
• Month and Year in which the commodity is manufactured/pre-packed/imported
• Retail sale price of the package
• Dimensions of commodity contained in the package/dimensions of each different piece if more than one piece is packed together

The Amendment Rules has granted exemptions for the following products:

• Food Articles – since these articles fall under the purview of Food Safety and Standards Act
• Packages of commodities containing quantity of more than 25 kilogram or 25 litre
• Cement, fertilizers, agricultural farm produce sold in bags above 50 kilograms
• Packaged commodities meant for industrial consumers or institutional consumers

Salient aspects of the amendment rules are:

• Name of the country of origin or manufacture or assembly in case of imported products shall be mentioned
• Best before or use by date, month and year for commodities which may become unfit for human consumption after a period of time. The distinction between best before and use by are as follows:
  • Best Before – date which signifies end of the period under any stated storage condition during which the product remains fully marketable and beyond this date, commodity may still be safe for consumption
  • Use By – date which signifies end of the estimated period under any stated storage condition after which the product shall not have the quality attributes normally expected by the consumers and after this date, the commodity should not be regarded as marketable
• Declaration of retail sale price:
  • Maximum or Max. Retail Price Rs [or rupee symbol] xx.xx (inclusive of all taxes), or
  • Maximum or Max. Retail Price Rs [or rupee symbol] xx.xx inclusive of all taxes, or
  • MRP Rs [or rupee symbol] xx.xx incl. of all taxes, or
  • MRP Rs [or rupee symbol] xx.xx (incl. of all taxes)
• Nothing in the amendment rules shall preclude declaration of following:
  • Barcode/GTIN/QR Code
  • E-code for net quantity assurance of the commodity
  • Logos of Government schemes such as Swachh Bharat Mission
• PDP Dimensions – area not including the top, bottom, flange at top and bottom of cans, and shoulders and neck of bottles and jars shall be determined as follows
  • Rectangular package – where one side can properly be considered as PDP, product of height multiplied by width of that side
  • Cylindrical or nearly cylindrical package – 40% of product of height multiplied by circumference
  • Any other shaped package – 40% of total surface area of the package
• Size of the numbers and letters