Mandatory expiry dates on cement bags proposed

The Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) has decided to forward the Competition Commission of Pakistan’s (CCP) proposal to revise national cement standards for disclosure of “manufacturing/expiry dates” on cement bags to the PSQCA for deliberation in the Technical Committee. A CCP team, led by Member OFT Saeed Ahmad Nawaz, held a follow-up meeting with Ali Tahir, Additional Secretary (In-charge) of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST), to discuss the proposal to amend the National Cement Standards, making the ‘manufacturing/packaging and expiry/best before’ dates on cement bags mandatory. The proposal was sent to MoST and the Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) as a policy note on March 7. During the meeting, the member CCP emphasised the importance of these disclosures due to cement’s hygroscopic nature, noting that non-disclosure violates Section 10 of the Competition Act 2010.