Bombay HC to decide cosmetic codes in July

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court (HC) on Tuesday completed the hearing of a petition that challenged a government notification, which mandated that cosmetic products should have a green or red dot to indicate whether vegetarian or non-vegetarian ingredients have been used while manufacturing it. 

The petitioners had opposed the notification on the grounds that while cosmetic products came under the purview of the Drugs and Cosmetic Act, the notification sought to make the Legal Metrology Act applicable too. The court will pass its order in July.  On Tuesday, when the matter came up for hearing, the division bench of Justices Shantanu Kemkar and G. S. Karnik was informed by the petitioners that while it had completed its arguments, the state and Centre were to comply with previous directions of the Bombay HC as well as those issued by the Delhi HC and the apex court.

While staying the implementation of the notification, the apex court had directed the Centre to have the Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) recommendations on the issue before enforcing the notification. While stating that they had completed their arguments, senior counsel Aspi Chinoy for the petitioners said that they hoped that the court would pass orders in this regard. 

Additional solicitor general Anil Singh for the Centre also confirmed that the Centre had complied with the directions of the apex court and did not have any objections to the petitions being decided. After hearing the submissions, the bench said that as the issue had been pending since 2014 and it had completed the hearing, final orders in this regard would be passed in July 2018.

The court also directed the state and Centre not to take any coercive steps against the cosmetic manufacturers till then.