India To Flag Market Access Of Drugs And Spices With U.S.

By siliconindia | Monday, 10 February 2014, 12:55 Hrs

He was reacting to Senator Orrin Hatch who accused India of allowing "rampant piracy and counterfeiting" for the benefit of its own industries.

In an address to the Aspen Institute U.S.-India Dialogue, National Security Advisor Susan Rice Friday raised US concerns related to intellectual property.

India is currently on the U.S. government's Priority Watch List - countries whose practices on protecting intellectual property Washington thinks should be monitored closely.

India has said its IPR regime is based on "comprehensive laws, detailed rules to back them up, and strong enforcement mechanisms, including for dispute resolution".

The FDA activities in India include increased inspections of relevant high-risk facilities and working with private and public sector entities that wish to engage with agency on third-party certification efforts regarding these products.

The FDA last year put Indian basmati rice on import alert saying that a fungicide, tricyclazole, was detected in some consignments.

The U.S. also has issues with "contaminated'' shipments of spices exported by India.

In Kochi, Hamburg will attend the Feb 16-19 World Spice Congress. She will visit a seafood processing facility and a spices facility.

Almost nine percent of 1,057 spice shipments from India were contaminated with salmonella, the FDA said in a report last October.

The Spice Board of India is currently working directly with farmers to put additional safety practices in place and to lower the risk of contamination.

Source: PTI