LAHORE: Commercial importers have expressed their serious concerns over recently issued notification by the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) by virtue of which, it has been made compulsory for all the imported food items to have Urdu labeling too on the packaging, describing all the ingredients, nutritional facts and usage directions.
Pakistan FMCG Importers Association (PFIA) Chairman Anjum Nisar, Senior Vice Chairman Muhammad Ejaz Tanveer, Nafees Ahmad Barry, Secretary General Ali Tariq Matto and others reacting to the notification said that they have no objection to said notification but importers must be given some reasonable and fair time allowing all importers and foreign suppliers to adapt to new requirements “Thousands of containers (Full Container Load FCLs) are on their way to importing countries and thousands of others are in the pipeline so it is impossible to stop this process with immediate effect and print new labels,’ they added.
They said that the notification also requires certain clarifications such as why to print usage method on every product as water being imported does not need to tell the consumer usage method. Similarly, they said it should also be clarified that which products should have Halal logos.
PFIA leadership urged the government to always consult the stakeholders before issuing any such order and also allow ample time before its implementation. They suggested that the importers should be given time till July 31, 2019, for implementation of the fresh notification.
