India’s Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has announced that officially stamped and signed documents will not be immediately required for imports of cosmetics, drugs and medical devices as part of the government response to the coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic.
Importers seeking clearance for cosmetic products on the Indian market, are usually required to obtain a registration certificate from the CDSCO under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940 and Rules 1945.
Applications for cosmetic products must include certain officially notarised documents including:
- a power of attorney letter;
- Forest Stewardship Council certificates; and
- manufacturing licences.
The latest statement from the CDSCO will allow importers to submit self-attested copies of these documents.
However, this must be followed up with submission of the official documents within four months or after normalisation of activities currently affected by Covid-19.
Meanwhile, there are now doubts over the schedule for a new framework regulation for cosmetics, originally set to be implemented in the middle of this year.
A draft of the law, drawn up in 2018 but not officially published, would expand the regulatory scope for manufactured and imported cosmetics.
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