The Indian Government is set to make it mandatory for companies manufacturing cosmetics to disclose the presence of any ingredient sourced from animals in the products marketed and sold in the country.

"To incorporate the changes, the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945, will have to be amended."

Reportedly, India’s drug advisory body, the Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB), cleared the proposal in its meeting held on Wednesday.

Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) senior official said: “The Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB) cleared the proposal regarding mandatory labelling of cosmetic products and toiletries with a brown/red and green dot on Wednesday. To incorporate the changes, the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945, will have to be amended.”

Red/brown and green dots will be carried on products such as shampoos, toothpaste and soaps.

The move has been backed by the department of consumer affairs, which in a recent representation to the ministry of health and family welfare asked the latter to make the declaration mandatory.

It is expected that the government will roll out a notification in the next six months to affect the change.

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Under existing laws, labelling on packaged food items sold in India are required to include a mark indicating whether the product is made from vegetarian or non-vegetarian ingredients.

According to Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) Dr S Eswara Reddy, the people belonging to Jain community and the Department of Consumer Affairs have been demanding labelling of cosmetics and toiletries with brown/red and green dot indicating non-vegetarian or vegetarian origin for quite some time.

Currently, packaged food products sold in India are required to be labelled with a mandatory mark indicating whether the source of the product was vegetarian or non-vegetarian.