Good morning [%first_name |Dear Reader%],

The monsoon session of Parliament is almost upon us. It is slated to begin tomorrow, and this time around there are a few important, highly-anticipated bills that are scheduled for “introduction, consideration, and passing”. Basically, the government’s way of saying we’ll give you a glimpse and push it through. 

One of these is, of course, the Digital Personal Data Protection Bill (we’ve written about this a few times before), and executives across multiple sectors are looking forward to it finally getting tabled with bated breath. 

But a less-visible, and no less contentious and important legislation (at least for the immediate stakeholders), is due to be tabled this session too: the Drugs, Cosmetics, and Medical Devices Bill, 2023 (DCMD). 

For the e-pharmacy sector, the bill is expected to clear up the regulatory uncertainty that has hung above their heads like the sword of Damocles rather too often for comfort. 

The DCMD Bill was first released for public consultation by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare last year. Reportedly, it formalises the power of the Indian government to regulate the sale of any drug through online channels. In our 26 April edition, we had already spoken about how unclear regulations meant that e-pharmacies were largely governed by court decisions rather than clear-cut laws.

So there’s no question that industry players will heave a sigh of relief once some clear rules are in place.

But like we’d also written about in the same edition, it is no longer just private industry interests which are at play here. The government’s digital public goods, such as the Ministry of Commerce and Industry’s Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) and the National Health Authority’s Unified Health Interface (UHI), now have stakes in the game too.