Garment industry given exemptions under Metrology rules to reduce compliance burden

The amendment exempts the garment or hosiery industry selling in loose or open from six declarations required under the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011.

The Department of Consumer Affairs under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution has received various representation for exempting the garment or hosiery sold in loose or open at the point of sale from the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules 2011, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution said in a statement.

"Therefore, Department of Consumer Affairs vide the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) (Third Amendment) Rules, 2022 has exempted the garment or hosiery industry selling garment or hosiery items in loose or open, for ease of doing business and reducing the compliance burden," it said.

Under the revised rules, garment or hosiery firms are exempted from declaring the following: common/ generic name of the commodity; net qty. in std. unit of W or M or no. of commodity in the package; unit sale price; month and year of manufacture or pre-packing or import; best before or use by date, month and year in case of commodity becoming unfit for human consumption with time and consumer care name & address.

Now, only the following information relevant to consumers is to be given viz.: name and address of the manufacturer/ marketer/ brand owner/ importer with the country of origin or manufacture in case of imported products; consumer care email id and phone number; sizes with internationally recognisable size indicators such as S, M, L, XL, XXL and XXXL along with details in metric notation in terms of cm or m; and maximum retail price (MRP).

The notification issued by the Department of Consumer Affairs is for ease of doing business by reducing the compliance burden to industries without compromising the interest of consumers by declaring the information relevant to consumers, the ministry said. (ANI)