Regulations to control and direct the herbal industry

Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP)
As per the June 23 Gazette of India all the existing herbal industries should follow the GMP pattern for production and a grace period of two years is given for existing units. This means at least a million rupee investment and documentation work. Most of the small players of the 7,000 units will have to stop their operation.
National Bio Diversity Act - 2000
This Act which will be placed in the Parliament in the coming session and is a major step in controlling the use of medicinal plants and limiting the benefit of IPR to India as well as helping conservation by sustainable utilisation. Under this Act even the collection of wild plants needs the consent from the State Bio-diversity board. Also collaboration with agencies abroad will require permission from this Board.
New Drugs Act
Another act which may change the Drug and Cosmetic Act related to herbal industry is the new categories being brought to Ayurvedic drugs. So all Ayurvedic drugs were either classical preparations as per the text (no dosage improvement, also no excise duty) or patent proprietary (excisable but less than its modern counterpart).
The amended Drug & Cosmetics Act comes with four categories of herbal preparations which will be specified in the drug licence issued.
1. Classical
2. Patent and proprietary
3. Herbal cosmetics
4. Industrial supplements
Even in the herbal cosmetic category soaps herbal and shampoos, etc., are not included. That means another category may have to be adopted for them.
Many leading pharmaceutical concerns have already ventured into Ayurveda or other herbal industries. GUFIC-Bombay is said to have only herbal products. Their allopathic units no longer interest them.
All these efforts makes sense because it is not just the domestic market one is looking into. The global market, especially the American and European markets, are said to be growing at a rate of 35 per cent a year (a record growth for last three years continuously). America is literally undergoing a herbal and natural product revolution.
So a time may come when the affluent, educated and sophisticated will use the costly and highly evolved, free-from-side effects, herbal products and the poor and less informed in the