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DRAFT AMENDMENT TO PFA RULES NOTIFIED - PRESS NOTE

    The Government has issued a Gazette Notification GSR No.76(E) dated 7.2.2001 for amending some of the provisions in the PFA (Prevention of Food Adulteration) Rules, 1955 pertaining to food additives. It also seeks to amend Rules 37 & 42 of the PFA Rules to modify the existing provisions relating to the manner and content of labelling gutka as well as pan masala containing tobacco.

    Food additives are allowed for use in food products consumed in the country to the extent of levels recommended as safe for human consumption by the Central Committee for Food Standards.Accordingly, limits are now proposed to be fixed for the extend of sodium aluminum silicate which can be used in powdered soft drink mixes and non-dairy creams and lacturlose syrup in special milk based infant food formulations and bakery products and sodium bicarbonate in canned tomato soup. The existing limit of one percent prescribed for presence of total glutamate content in ready-to-serve food is also proposed to be removed.

    The provisions relating to labeling of chewing tobacco products are proposed to be amended to provide for a declaration regarding the injurious nature of tobacco. This is to be shown in two languages, of which Hindi or English will have to be compulsorily provided, while the other may be a regional language, if so required. Similarly, requirements regarding colour, type of letters used, the quality of printing and even the text of the warning are also proposed to be prescribed in the Rules so that these become more viable to the consumer.

    Comments are invited from the public in this matter within the next 45 days on the proposed amendments. The comments may be addressed to Secretary (Health), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Nirman Bhavan, New Delhi-110011.

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    The Government has finalised the guidelines for issue of license for Voice Mail and Audiotex Service. This was announced by the Minister of Communications, Shri Ram Vilas Paswan, in a statement, here today. He said that in line with the New Telecom Policy, 1999, the Government took the decision to permit migration of existing licensees of cellular, basic and other value added services to NTP 1999 regime. Accordingly, Government has decided to migrate existing Voice Mail/Audiotex Service Licensees to NTP 1999 regime and issue additional licenses for a period of 15 years.

    Shri Paswan said that according to the eligibility criteria, the applicant should be an Indian Company and there will be no entry fee as well as license fee. He said that only Performance Bank Guarantee of Rs. 3 lakh for each license is required. Other highlights of the guidelines include:

• 100% Foreign Direct Investment(FDI) allowed in these services.
• The service area of a licence shall be Short Distance Charging Area (SDCA) on the basis of local dialing. From outside the SDCA, the service will be allowed to be accessed on STD call basis.
• The existing Voice Mail/Audiotex Service licenses will be allowed to migrate to the new licensing regime with effect from 1.4.2001.
• Voice Mail and Audiotex Services can also be provided as a value added service by Basic, Cellular and Cable Service Providers as Access Providers over their network.
• The Governmental or Public Service Agency offering public utility services such as railways, broadcasting, news & media, cooking gas agency or even restaurants are permitted to provide Audiotex Services or services through interactive Voice Response System without obtaining any license or taking any permission.

    The Voice Mail Service enables the subscriber to send a message to one or more recipients and to receive messages via a telecommunication network using a combination of store and forward, and store and retrieve techniques. The service will be especially useful for the subscribers who are constantly on the move or do not have a telephone of their own. A Voice Mail Service(VMS) subscriber has a voice mail number and a mail box. Any person can leave his message in the mail box of a VMS subscriber by dialing the mail box number from where it can be retrieved at his convenience.

    The Audiotex Service is designed to automatically provide information about products and services by telephone. Through this service one can listen to News, TV programmes, weather forecast, share prices, railway and air timings, sports commentary etc.

    The tariff will be governed by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India(TRAI). At present, the service providers can fix their own tariff and perforce intimate the same to TRAI which will be reviewed from time to time.

    The following are the detailed guidelines which are only for the purpose of general information and do not constitute any legally binding commitment:

1. The licence for operation of Voice Mail/Audiotex Service in India shall be issued on non-exclusive "first-cum-first-served" basis.

2. Proposals seeking Voice Mail/Audiotex Service licence is to be submitted to Director (VAS-II), DOT. The proposal is to be submitted along-with a demand draft of Rs. Twenty thousand as a processing fee (non-refundable), drawn on any scheduled bank and payable at New Delhi, in favour of Pay & Accounts Officer (Hqrs), Department of Telecom, New Delhi.

3. The service area for the licence shall be Short Distance Charging Area (SDCA) on the basis of local dialing. From outside the SDCA, the service will be allowed to be accessed on STD call basis . The service provider would install his equipment within the SDCA for which licence is obtained.

4. There will be no Entry Fee as well as license fee. Performance Bank Guarantee of Rs. three lakhs for each licence shall be required.

5. The Applicant should be an Indian company, registered under the Indian Companies Act’1956. With regard to foreign investment, 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) shall be allowed, subject to fulfillment of other rules and conditions of the Government on FDI.

6. The period of licence shall be 15 years, with the provision for extending the same for another 5 years. The existing licensees shall also be allowed the same licensing period.

7. The existing Voice Mail/Audiotex Service Licensees shall be allowed to migrate to the new licensing regime w.e.f. 1.4.2001.

8. NTP-99 has defined Cellular Mobile Telephone Service Providers, Fixed Service Providers, Cable Service Providers as Access Providers; Voice Mail/Audiotex Services can be provided as a Value Added Service by these service providers over their network. Therefore, such Access Services Providers may provide Voice Mail/Audiotex service to the subscribers falling within their service area on non-discriminatory basis; an intimation before providing any such Value Added Service may be sent to the Licensing Authority. No separate licence fee shall be charged for Voice Mail/Audiotex Service to be provided by the Access Service Operators. However, the revenue earned by these operators through this Service, if any, shall be counted towards the revenue for the purpose of paying licence fee under the License granted to them.

9. The Voice Mail/Audiotex Service Provider will be bound to provide the services to any person within the service area, without any discrimination.

10. Licensee shall make its own arrangements for all infrastructure involved in providing the service and shall be solely responsible for installation and operation of necessary equipment and systems, treatment of subscriber complaints, issue of bills to its subscribers, collection of revenue, attending to claims and damages arising out of their operations.

11.The Voice Mail/Audiotex Service Licensee shall operate and maintain the licensed Network conforming to Quality of Service standards to be mutually agreed between the service providers subject to such other directions as the competent authority may give from time to time.

12. The licensee will not assign or transfer its rights in any manner whatsoever under the license to a third party or enter into any agreement for sub-license and/or partnership relating to any subject matter of the licence to any third party either in whole or in any part i.e. no sub leasing /partnership/third party interest shall be created.

13. The Licensee shall not normally employ bulk encryption equipment in its network. However, if any encryption equipment is used and connected to the Licensee’s network, then it should have prior evaluation and written approval of the Government.

14. All foreign personnel likely to be deployed by the LICENSEE for installation, operation and maintenance of the LICENSEE’s network shall be security cleared by the Government of India prior to their deployment. The security clearance will be obtained from the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. The LICENSEE shall ensure protection of privacy of communication and ensure that unauthorized interception of messages does not take place.

15. LICENSOR shall have the right to revoke/terminate/suspend the LICENCE either in part or whole of the Service area in the interest of national security or in case of emergency or war or low intensity conflict or any other eventuality in public interest as declared by the Government of India. Provided any specific orders or direction from the Government issued under such conditions shall be applicable to the LICENSEE and shall be strictly complied with.

16. LICENSOR reserves the right to modify these conditions or incorporate new conditions considered necessary in the interest of national security, public interest and for proper conduct of telegraphs.

17. LICENSEE will ensure that the Telecommunication installation carried out by it should not become a safety hazard and is not in contravention of any statute, rule or regulation and public policy.

18. The LICENSEE shall take measures that prevent the objectionable, obscene, unauthorised or any other content, messages or communications infringing copyright, intellectual property etc., in any form, from being carried on his network, consistent with the established laws of the country. Once specific instances of such infringement are reported to the LICENSEE by the authorised agencies, the Licensee shall ensure that the carriage of such material on his network is prevented immediately. The LICENSEE is obliged to provide, without any delay, tracing facility to trace nuisance, obnoxious or malicious calls, messages or communications transported through his equipment and network. Any damages arising out of default on the part of LICENSEE in this regard shall be payable by the licensee.

19. In case any confidential information is divulged to the LICENSEE for proper implementation of the Agreement, it shall be binding on the Licensee and its employees and servants to maintain its secrecy and confidentiality.

20. DOT reserves its right not to grant a licence without assigning any reason.

21. All matters relating to the application or licence, if granted, will be subject to jurisdiction of courts in Delhi or New Delhi.

22. Provision of only Audiotex Service or services through Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS):- The Governmental or Private Service Agencies, offering Public utility services, such as Railways, Broadcasting, News & Media, Cooking Gas Agency or even Restaurants etc., are permitted to provide services such as Audiotex (providing information on automatic basis like News, Weather Forecast, Commentary, Railway/Air Timings etc.), Tele-marketing (receiving purchase orders automatically over phone or host-computer), Tele-complaint (Service Agency providing automatic booking of service complaints through IVRS system etc.) and Tele-Booking (agencies like Cooking Gas, Restaurants for booking of orders using IVRS or host-computer etc.), freely without need for obtaining any license or taking any permission.

    "I wish to express my sincere thanks to the people of all the States, the NRI community and the international community for their outstanding contribution in the relief and rehabilitation activities in Gujarat after the devastating earthquake of January 26. The people and the Government of Maharashtra was among the first to respond to the calamity in neighbouring Gujarat. Mumbai is home to a large population of Gujarati-speaking people, especially those belonging to Kutch. All sections of this cosmopolitan city participated spontaneously in the effort to mobilise relief for the people of Gujarat.