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Ayush ministry to amend D&C Rules to prohibit misleading ads of Ayurveda, Siddha & Unani drugs
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Ramesh Shankar, Mumbai
December 22 , 2016
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The Union ministry of Ayush will soon amend the Drugs and Cosmetics
Rules, 1945 to prohibit misleading advertisements of Ayurveda, Siddha
& Unani drugs.
Presently, there are no regulatory provisions
for pre-censorship on advertisements. Action is taken whenever violation
of Advertisement Code is brought to the notice of the Ministry of
Information and Broadcasting or the advertisement is found to be in
contravention of the provisions of Drugs & Magic Remedies
(Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954 and Rules thereunder.
In
fact, the Ministry in consultation with Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani
Drugs Technical Advisory Board (ASUDTAB) had already framed and notified
draft rules for prohibition of misleading advertisements of Ayurveda,
Siddha and Unani drugs in the Official Gazette vide GSR No. 396(E) dated
4th April, 2016 to amend the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945.
At
present, complaints about the misleading content of the advertisements
of ayurvedic medicines received in the Ministry of Ayush from any source
are forwarded to the concerned State Licensing Authorities with the
direction to take necessary action in accordance with the provisions of
Drugs and Magic Remedies (Objectionable Advertisements) Act, 1954 and
Drugs & Cosmetics Act, 1940 and Rules thereunder. In several cases,
the state authorities have reported to have taken actions.
The
ministry is now amending the law as it is aware of the sale and
advertisement of ayurvedic medicines through TV channels which are
required to adhere to the Advertising Code prescribed under the Cable TV
Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 and Rules framed thereunder.
At
present, there are some mechanisms in place for quality control of
products sold or promoted through advertisements. Ministry of
Information and Broadcasting has constituted an Inter-Ministerial
Committee to look into the violations of advertisement code suo-moto or
whenever violations of the advertisement code are brought to the notice
of the Ministry in respect of private TV channels. The Inter-Ministerial
Committee meets periodically and recommends actions in respect of
alleged violations reported. An advisory was also issued by the
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on 21.8.2014 advising all TV
channels not to telecast advertisements which were found to be violating
the provisions of Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994, Advertising
Standards Council of India (ASCI) Code and also Drugs & Magic
Remedies (Objectionable Advertisement) Act, 1954.
As part of the
self-regulatory initiative of the industry, Advertising Standards
Council of India (ASCI), a voluntary body of advertisement industry,
promotes self-regulation of advertisement content by monitoring and
deciding on complaints against advertisements making misleading, false
and unsubstantiated claims of the products including ayurvedic
medicines.
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