Short Article

02-09-2023 | 11:24 AM

Jan Vishwas Bill, 2023

The Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2023 has been passed in Parliament.

Key Highlights:

• Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2023 amends 42 laws, across multiple sectors, including agriculture, environment, and media and publication and health.
• The Bill converts several fines to penalties, meaning that court prosecution is not necessary to administer punishments. It also removes imprisonment as a punishment for many offences.
• The changes proposed to the Drugs and Cosmetics Act,1940 have caused the most controversy. This act governs the import, production, distribution, and sale of drugs and cosmetics in the country.
• Currently, the Act defines four types of offenses — adulterated drugs, spurious drugs, mislabeled drugs, and Not of Standard Quality drugs (NSQs) — each carrying varying degrees of punishment (combining imprisonment and fines) depending on the severity of the offense.