Sale of ORSL allowed till FSSAI's decision
New Delhi, Oct. 26 -- The Delhi high court has allowed Johnson & Johnson's subsidiary, JTNL Consumer Health, to continue selling its electrolyte drinks under the registered trademark "ORSL" until the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) decides on its representation challenging the authority's ban on the use of Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS) branding for certain beverage products.
The FSSAI on October 14 and 15 had issued orders restraining food and business operators (FBOs) from using the term ORS, as prefixes or suffixes in the name, label, advertisement or trademark of any food or beverage product, concluding that such a practice was misleading and contravened the provisions of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. The prohibition covered fruit-based drinks, non-carbonated beverages, ready-to-drink formulations, etc. The authority had directed FBOs to remove the word ORS from their food products.
A bench led by justice Sachin Datta on October 17 allowed the sale after JTNL agreed to submit a representation challenging the ban within a week, and FSSAI's counsel Aamir Zafar Khan consented that the authority's order would not be enforced against JTNL until it decided on the representation. While disposing of JTNL's petition challenging the ban, the court also granted the company liberty to pursue appropriate legal remedies if it is dissatisfied with the decision made on its representation.
"After some hearing, it is agreed that the petitioner would submit a representation against the impugned orders... Let the said representation be submitted within a period of one week from today," the court said in its order....
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