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20/04/2024
The Drugs Act, 1940

The Drugs Act, 1940

( ACT NO. XXIII OF 1940 )

এই আইন ঔষধ ও কসমেটিকস্ আইন, ২০২৩ ( ২০২৩ সনের ২৯ নং আইন ) দ্বারা রহিত করা হইয়াছে।

Chapter I

INTRODUCTORY

Short title, extent and commencement
1. (1) This Act may be called the Drugs Act, 1940.
 
 
 
 
(2) It extends to the whole of Bangladesh.
 
 
 
 
1[(3) It shall come into force at once; but Chapter III and IV shall take effect only from such date as the Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, appoint in this behalf.]
Application of other laws not barred
2. The provisions of this Act shall be in addition to, and not in derogation of, the Dangerous Drugs Act, 1930, and any other law for the time being in force.
Definitions

3. In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context,-

 
 
 
 

(a) “the Board” means the Drugs Technical Advisory Board constituted under section 5;

 
 

(b) “drug” includes-

 
 
 
 

(i) all medicines for internal or external use of human beings or animals, and all substances intended to be used for or in the treatment, mitigation or prevention of diseases in human beings or animals, not being medicines and substances exclusively used or prepared for use in accordance with the ayurvedic, unani, homoeopathic or biochemic system of medicine,

 
 
 
 

(ii) diagnostic, abortive and contraceptive substances, surgical ligatures, sutures, bandages, absorbent cotton, bacteriophages, adhesive plasters, gelatine capsules and antiseptic solutions,

 
 
 
 

(iii) such substances (other than food) intended to affect the structure or any function of the human body or intended to be used for the destruction of vermins or insects which cause disease in human beings or animals,

 
 
 
 

(iv) any substance, mentioned as monograph in any of the editions of the British Pharmacopoeia or the British Pharmaceutical Codex or the United States Pharmacopoeia or the National Formulary of the United States or the International Pharmacopoeia, whether alone or in combination with any substance exclusively used in the unani, ayurvedic, homoeopathic or biochemic system of medicine and intended to be used for any of the purposes mentioned in sub clauses (i), (ii) and (iii), and

 
 
 
 

(v) any other substance which the Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, declare to be a “drug” for the purposes of this Act;

 
 
 
 

2[(ba) “to export” means to take out of Bangladesh by sea, land or air;

 
 

(bb) “licensing authority” means such authority as may be prescribed;

 
 
 
 

(bc) “manufacture” in relation to any drug includes any process or part or stage of process for making, altering, ornamenting, finishing, packing, labelling, breaking up or otherwise treating or adopting any drug with a view to its sale and distribution, but does not include the compounding and dispensing or the packing of any drug in the ordinary course of retail business or on a prescription of a registered medical practitioner or dentist or of a veterinarian, and ÔÇÿto manufacture' shall be construed accordingly;]

 
 
 
 

(c) “to import”, with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, means to bring into Bangladesh;

 
 
 
 

(d) “patent or proprietary medicine” means a drug which is a remedy or prescription prepared for internal or external use of human beings or animals, and which is not for the time being recognised by the Permanent Commission on Biological Standardisation of the World Health Organisation or in the latest edition of the British Pharmacopoeia or the British Pharmaceutical Codex or any other pharmacopoeia authorised in this behalf by the Government after consultation with the Board;

 
 
 
 

3[(e) “prescribed” means prescribed by rules made under this Act.]

Presumption as to poisonous substances
4. Any substance specified as poisonous by rule made under Chapter III or Chapter IV shall be deemed to be a poisonous substance for the purposes of Chapter III or Chapter IV, as the case may be.
 
 

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Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs