India Awaits New Law to Curb Drug Counterfeiting

Following the approval of India's new World Trade Organisation-compliant intellectual property law, the country's drug industry is awaiting the Drugs and Cosmetics (Amendment) Bill 2005, aimed at reducing counterfeiting in the country.

Legislative debate on the bill was postponed in 2003, but a revised draft was recently approved by the cabinet. Updating a 1940 law and several amendments dating from the previous administration, the latest version of the law imposes a maximum penalty of life imprisonment as opposed to the death penalty. Fines of up to INR100,000 (US$2,285) will be applicable, in addition to further "spot" financial penalties. Another key change is the empowerment of mid-ranking police officers to enforce the law, as opposed to restricting enforcement to the country's drugs inspectors, who are widely seen as too few in number.

The research-based drug industry is also likely to welcome further regulations incorporated within the act that are expected to halve the average six-month period for government drug test results. The World Bank is currently supporting the expansion of official drug test facilities in India, in the hope that boosting government testing capacity will better support a speedier, more enforceable anticounterfeiting regime.