Ease of Doing Business for MSMEs: The Government of India, in a formal notification, has excluded garments and hosiery products sold loose in retail from the provisions of the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011, in an amendment for ease of doing business and reducing compliance burden. They have, however, putting forth a condition of providing a set of details on the product tag for customers’ benefit.
The Ministry of Consumer Affairs has clarified that garments in a packed form for safety or hygiene consideration during storage and transit before it reaches the point of purchase will not be considered as ‘packed’. It has defined ‘loose’ garments as ‘commodities or hosiery sold loose or open at the point of sale in such a manner that consumers can inspect the product before buying’.
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The information relevant to consumers is to be given, such as, name and address of the manufacturer or marketer or brand owner or importer with the country of origin or manufacture in case of imported products. Other information such as 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) can be provided, said the ministry in a statement.
The move has brought a relief to the industry bodies that have been giving presentations on the need of the amendment.
By giving a precise description of what constitutes a loose garment, the Government has addressed a long standing grievance of the industry and will eliminate the inspector harassment faced by the industry, Rajesh Masand, president of Clothing Manufacturers’ Association of India (CMAI) told The Hindu Business Line.
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The Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) (Third Amendment) Rules, 2022, exempts garment or hosiery industry selling in loose from six declarations required under the rule, vis a vis, common name of the commodity; net quantity in standard unit of W or M or number 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 and address.
The ministry has mentioned in the notification that the exemption was only for the finished goods and the information about the product needed to be displayed on e-commerce websites if sold through them.
The amendment will come into effect from January next year.