BALOCHISTAN PROVINCIAL ASSEMBLY SECRETARIAT.
NOTIFICATION.
Dated Quetta, 3rd February 2014.
No.PAB/Legis: V (01)/2014. The Balochistan
Protection and Promotion of BreastFeeding and Child Nutrition Bill, 2014. (Bill No.01 of 2014), having been passed by
the Provincial Assembly of Balochistan on 18th January, 2014 and assented to by the
Governor, Balochistan on 24th January,
2014 is hereby published as an Act of the Balochistan Provincial Assembly.
THE BALOCHISTAN
PROTECTION AND PROMOTION OF BREAST-FEEDING AND CHILD NUTRITION ACT 2014 (ACT NO. I OF 2014).
(First published after having
received the assent of the Governor Balochistan in the
Balochistan Gazette (Extra-ordinary) dated 24th January 2014).
An
Act
to
provide for the protection of breast-feeding and nutrition for infants and
young children
Preamble. WHEREAS
it is expedient to ensure safe and adequate nutrition for infants and young
children by promoting and protecting breast-feeding, and by regulating the
marketing and promotion of designated products including breast milk
substitutes, and of feeding bottles, values for feeding bottles, nipples
shields, teats and pacifier and to provide for matters connected therewith or
ancillary thereto;
It is
hereby enacted as follows:-
1. Short title,
extent and commencement. -- (1) This Act may be called the Balochistan
Protection and Promotion of Breast-Feeding and Child Nutrition Act, 2014.
(2) It shall
extend to the whole of Balochistan
except the Tribal Areas .
(3) It shall
come into force at once.
CHAPTER-I
DEFINITIONS
2. Definitions.
-- In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or
context:
a)
“Infant” means a child up to the age of twelve months;
b)
“Young child” means a child from the age of twelve
months up to the age of two years;
c)
“advertise” or “advertising” means to make any
representation by any means whatsoever for the purposes of promoting sale or
use of designated product;
d)
“Board” means the infant Feeding Board constituted
under Section 3 of this Act;
e)
“container” means any form of packaging of a designated
product of sale as a retail unit; f) “designated product” means:
i.
any milk manufactured, marketed and promoted for the
use of an infant or otherwise represented as a partial or total replacement for
mother’s milk, whether or not suitable for such replacement;
ii.
any products manufactured, marketed, promoted or
otherwise represented as a complement to mother’s milk to meet the growing
nutritional needs of an infant;
iii.
any feeding bottle, teat, value for feeding bottle,
pacifier or nipple shield; and iv. such other product as Government may, by
notification in the official Gazette, declare to be a designated product for
the purposes of this Act.
g)
“complementary food” means any food suitable as an
addition to breast milk or to a breast milk substitute when either becomes
insufficient to satisfy the nutritional requirements of an infant, also
commonly called “weaning food” or “breast milk and young child supplement”;
h)
“distributor” means any person engaged in the business
of marketing, whether wholesale or retail, and includes a person providing
product public relations, and information services;
i)
“feeding bottle” means any bottle or receptacle
marketed for the purpose of feeding an infant or a young child;
j)
“follow-up formula” means an animal or vegetable based
milk product marketed for infants older than six months or young child and
formulated industrially in accordance with the standards of the Codex
Alimentraius Commission and the Codex Code of
Hygienic practice for foods for
infants and children;
k)
“Government” means the Government of Balochistan;
l)
“health care facility” means a government,
non-government, semi-government or private institution or organization, or
private medical practitioner engaged, directly or indirectly, in the provision
of health care to infants, young children, pregnant women or mother, and
includes a day-care center, nursery and any other child-care institution;
m)
“health professional” means a medical practitioner,
nurse nutritionists or such other persons as Government may, by a notification
in the official Gazette, specify;
n)
“health worker” means any person providing services to
infants, young children, pregnant women or mothers as a medical practitioner,
and includes a health professional, homeopath practitioner, hakim, nurse,
midwife, traditional birth attendant, pharmacist, dispensing chemist,
nutritionist, hospital administrator or employee, whether professional or not,
whether paid or not and any other person providing such services as Government
may, by notification in the official Gazette, specify;
o)
“infant-formula” means as animal or vegetable based milk
product manufactured in accordance with the standards recommended by the Codex
Alimentarius Commission and the Codex Code of Hygienic practice for Infants and
Children to approximate the normal nutritional requirements of an infant up to
the age of six months;
p)
“Inspector” mean any person designated as Inspector
under Section 12;
q)
“label” means any tag, mark, pictorial or other
descriptive matter which is written, printed, stenciled marked, embossed,
attached or otherwise appearing in a container;
r)
“manufacturer” means a person, corporation or other
entity engaged or involved in the business of producing, processing,
compounding, formulating, filling, packing, repacking, altering, ornamenting,
finishing and labeling a designated product, whether directly, through an
agent, or through a person controlled by or under agreement;
s)
“market” means any method of introducing or selling a
designated product, and includes, but not limited to promotion distribution,
advertising distribution of samples, product public relations and product
information services;
t)
“nipple shield” means an appliance with a teat for baby
to suck from the breast;
u)
“pacifier” means an artificial teat for babies to suck,
also called “dummy”;
v)
“person” means any individual partnership, association,
unincorporated organization, company, co-operative, corporation, trustee, agent
or any group of persons;
w)
“prescribed” means prescribed by rules;
x)
“promote” or “promotion” means any method of
introducing a person to, or familiarizing a person with a designated product of
inducing a person to buy or use a designated product, and includes, but not
limited to, advertising, offer of samples or gifts, distribution of literature,
public relations and information services related to a designated product, but
does not include any prescription issued by a medical practitioner based on
health grounds;
y)
“Rules” means rules made under this Act; and
z)
“Sample” means any quantity of a designated product
provided free of cost.
CHAPTER-II
ADMINISTRATION
3. Infant Feeding
Board. -- (1) Government shall, by notification in the official Gazette,
constitute an Infant Feeding Board.
(2) The Infant Feeding Board
shall consist of:
1.
Chairman, Standing Committee on Health. Chairperson.
2.
Two Members of Provincial Assembly nominated by the
Speaker of the Provincial Assembly of Balochistan. Members.
3.
Secretary, Health Department, Government of
Balochistan. Secretary.
4.
One member from the Pharmaceutical Industry nominated
by their Association. Member.
5.
One member from Civil Society nominated by Health
Department, Government of Balochistan. Member.
6.
Two Paediatricians nominated by Health Department,
Government of Balochistan. Members.
7.
Two Obstetrician/Gynecologists nominated by Health
Department of Balochistan. Member.
8.
Programme Manager, Nutrition Support Programme, Health
Department, Government of Balochistan. Member.
Provided that
not less than half of the total number of members of the Board shall comprise
of such persons who are professionally qualified with respect to infant and
young child nutrition and at least one member of the Board shall be selected
from the industry involved in the manufacturing and marketing of designated
products.
(3) Government shall nominate the member
of the Board, who shall hold office for such term as Government may determine
or as may be prescribed.
4. Power and Functions of the Board. --
The following shall be the powers and functions of the Board, namely:
a.
to receive repost of violations of the provisions of
this Act or the rules;
b.
To recommend investigation of cases against
manufactures, distributers or health workers found to be violating the
provisions of this Act the rules;
c.
to plan for and co-ordinate the dissemination of
informational and educational materials on the topic of infant feeding and
recommend continuing educational courses for health workers for the purposes of
this Act;
d.
to advise Government on policies for the promotion and
protection of breast-feeding, and matters relating to designated products
especially infant and young child nutrition particularly through education
campaigns, and to organize health education on the same for health workers and
general public; and
e.
to propose guidelines to Government in respect of
matter specified in clause (d).
5. Meetings of the Board. -- The Secretary
of the Board shall call meeting of the Board, at the direction of the
chairperson, and maintain minutes of such meetings.
6. Implementation and Monitoring.-- Government
may give such directions as may appear to it to be necessary for carrying into
effects in any of the provisions of this Act or the rules, or any order or
direction made there under, or for achievement of uniformity in respect of any
matter related thereto in different parts of Balochistan.
CHAPTER-III
PROHIBITIONS
7. Prohibited Practices. -- (1) No person
shall, in any form whatsoever promote any designated products except as
provided for under this Act.
(2) No
person shall in any manner assert that any designated product is substitute for
mother’s milk, or that it is equivalent to or comparable with or superior to
mother’s milk.
(3) No manufacturer
or distributer shall offer, or make gift or contributions of any kind or pay to
any extent for any reason whatsoever or give any kind of benefit to a health
worker or his family or any personnel employed directly or indirectly in a
health facility or any member of the board of the employees thereof.
(4) No
manufacturer or distributor shall donate any designated product and equipment
or services related to a designated product free of charge or at low cost to a
health care facility, or offer or give any benefit to a professional
association of medical practitioners for his purpose.
(5) No
person other than a health worker who is not engaged by a manufacturer or
distributor shall instruct any user on the need and proper preparation and use
of any designated product:
Provided that a
manufacturer or distributor may instruct any user on the need and proper
preparation and use of any designated product in accordance with the provisions
of Section 8.
(6) No
distributor or manufacturer shall in furtherance of or for the purposes of its
business have contact, directly or indirectly with general public within a
health care facility.
(7) No
manufacturer, distributor or any person engaged by them shall produce or
distribute any educational or informational material relating to infant and
young child feeding:
Provided that
any educational or informational material relating to a designated product may
be provided by a manufacturer or distributor to a health professional subject
to the prescribed conditions, and that the same shall be restricted to
scientific and factual matters and shall not imply or create a belief that
bottle-feeding is equivalent to superior to breast-feeding.
8. Prohibitions and guidance relating to
labels of designated products. -- (1) No designated product shall be
marketed or sold in Balochistan unless its label is in accordance with the
provisions of this Act and the rules, and approved in the manner as may be
prescribed by Government:
Provided that
for any designated product already being sold in Balochistan a manufacturer or
distributor shall provide for the label of such product within one hundred and
eighty days of its approval in the manner as may be prescribed.
(2) Label
of a designated product shall be designed so as not to discourage
breast-feeding and shall provide the necessary information in Urdu about the
appropriate use of such product and the age before which a designated product
should not be used.
(3) Every
container shall have a clear conspicuous and easily understood message printed
on it, or on a label that cannot become separated from it, which shall be
written in Urdu, and if so desired by the manufacturers, in English as well.
(4) The
label shall:
a)
not contain anything that may discourage
breast-feeding;
b)
contain a conspicuous notice in bold characters in the
prescribed height stating the following, namely:-
“MOTHER’S MILK IS
BEST FOR YOUR BABY AND HELPS IN PREVENTING
DIARRHEA AND OTHER ILLNESSES”;
c)
instead of or in addition to the notice specified in
clause (b), contain any other message as may be prescribed with respect to any
designated product;
d)
neither uses expression such as “maternalized” or
“humanized” or equivalent nor contains any comparison with mother’s milk;
e)
not show photographs, drawings or graphics, except that
graphics may be used to illustrate the correct method of preparation;
f)
contain the name and address of manufacturer and of
wholesale distributor if a designated product is an imported item; and
g)
except for bottles, teats, pacifiers and nipple
shields, contain appreciate instruction in Urdu for the correct preparation in
words and easily understood graphics, composition and analysis of a designated
product required storage conditions batch number and expiry date and contain
any warning as may be prescribed for the implementation of this Act in
characters of the prescribed height in Urdu.
CHAPTER-IV
INFORMATIONAL AND EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS
9. Informational and Educational Materials. --
(1) Any person who produces or distributes any informational an educational
materials referred in this Section shall submit copies thereof to the board as
may be prescribed.
(2) The
informational and educational materials, whether written, audio or visual,
which refer to infant feeding shall contain only correct information and shall
not use any pictures, graphics or text that encourage bottle-feeding or
discourage breast-feeding.
(3) Government
shall, in consultation with the Board, arrange for and approve the
dissemination of objective and consistent informational and educational
materials on infant and young child feeding, excluding medical literature and
may, by notification in the official Gazette, publish such instructions,
guidelines or policies as it deems necessary or appropriate, for the purposes
of producing and distributing informational and educational materials.
10. Health Workers and Health Care Facilities.
-- (1) Health workers shall encourage, support and protect breast-feeding.
They shall be expected to know the provisions of this Act, in particular any
instructions, guidelines or policies published under Section 9, and to
implement the same whenever possible.
(2) Health
workers shall not accept or give samples of any designated product to any
person, particularly pregnant women, mothers of infants and young children, or
members of their families.
(3) Health
workers and their associations shall not promote in any way whatsoever, any
designated product.
(4) Health
workers falling within the jurisdiction of Government shall make in writing a
report to the Board, any offer of a gift or other financial benefit made by a
manufacturer or distributor or any other contravention of the provisions of
this Act or the rules, noticed by them.
(5) There shall be
kept posted in every health care facility in Urdu and English, as may be deemed
appropriate by the health care facility, such abstracts of this Act as may be
prescribed by the Government, for this purpose.
CHAPTER-V
REGISTRATION OF DESIGNATED PRODUCTS AND QUALITY ASSURANCE
11. Quality Assurance. -- (1) No designated product shall be
manufactured, sold or otherwise distributed in Balochistan unless it is
formulated industrially in accordance with the standards recommended by the
Codex Code of Hygienic practice for foods infants and children, and in addition
shall meet such applicable standards specified in this Act and the rules.
(2) The
Board may require an Inspector or any other person invested with powers under
this Act to test any designated product sold in Balochistan in order to
determine whether it is fit for human consumption.
(3) A
designated product that does not meet the standards for use in the country of
manufacture shall not be sold in Balochistan.
(4) A
designated product that has reached the expiry date shall not be marketed, sold
or distributed.
(5) A
designated product shall be sold only in the original container in order to
prevent quality deterioration, adulteration or contamination thereof.
12. Investigation and Inspection. -- (1)
Government may designate any number of persons professionally qualified with
respect to infant and young child nutrition as Inspector to conduct inspection
and investigation and prosecution for the purposes of this Act, and to monitor
compliance with the provisions of this Act.
(2) After
an inspection for purposes of this Act, an
Inspector shall refer the case and if so required provide one portion of
the sample of a designated product or the whole of a designated product if it
is such that it cannot be divided to the board.
13. Investigation and filling a case. -- (1)
Upon completion of an investigation and receipt of a complete report and after
giving the concerned party an opportunity of being heard, the board shall
recommend to Government whether or not to institute prosecution under this Act.
(2) No
court shall take cognizance of any offence punishable under this Act except on
a report in writing by an officer authorized by Government through a notification in the official Gazette in this
behalf.
(3) An
offence punishable under this Act shall be non-cognizable.
14. Appeal. -- (1) Any person sentenced by
a court under this Act may prefer an appeal to the Sessions Court within thirty
days of the Judgment.
(2) The
provisions of Sections 5 and 12 of the Limitation Act, 1908 (IX of 1908), shall
be applicable to an appeal preferred under sub-section (1).
15. Public enforcement. -- (1) Any person
whomsoever may make an application in writing to the Board concerning contravention
of any of the provisions of this Act or the rules.
(2) In
the event an investigation reveals an offence the Board shall follow the
procedure specified in Section 13 for recommending prosecution.
CHAPTER-VI
PENALTIES AND PROCEDURES
16. Revocation or Suspension of license etc. --
(1) Where any person except a medical practitioner has been found to have
contravened any of the provisions of this Act or the rules, the concerned
authority upon written recommendation of the Board, and after giving such person
an opportunity of being heard may recommend to Government to suspend or cancel
his license for the practice of his profession or occupation or for the pursuit
of his business.
(2) In
the case of a contravention involving a medical practitioner registered under
the Medical and Dental Council Ordinance, 1962 (XXXII of 1962), the matter
shall be referred to the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council for further
action.
17. Penalties. -- (1) Any manufacturer or
distributor who contravenes the provisions of subsection. (1) of Section 8,
sub-sections (1) (3) (4) or (5) of Section 11, shall be punishable with
imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine which shall
not be less than fifty thousand rupees or more than five hundred thousand rupees,
or both.
(2) Any
person who contravenes any other provision of this Act, or the rules shall be
punishable with a fine which may extend to five hundred thousand rupees.
18. Responsibility of an individual for the act
of a company corporation partnership or an institution. -- Where the
offence is found to have been committed by a company corporation partnership or
an institution as a result of an institutional or operational instructions
issued by it or implemented by it the company corporation partnership or the
institution may be found guilty in addition to the individuals directly
responsible for the commission of such offence.
19. Power to make rules. -- Government may
by notification in the official Gazette make rules for carrying out the purposes
of this Act.
20. Overriding effect. -- The provisions of
this Act shall have effect notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained
in any other law for the time being in force.
21. Repeal. -- The provisions of the
Protection of Breast-Feeding and Child Nutrition Ordinance, 2002 (Ordinance
No.XIII of 2002), to the extent of its application to the Province of
Balochistan is hereby repealed.
Secretary.
No.PAB/Legis: V
(01)/2014.
Dated Quetta, the 3rd
February 2014.
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