Indian Business Delegation for Buyer Seller Meet (BSM) in ASEAN Region

Indian Business Delegation for Buyer Seller Meet (BSM) in ASEAN Region from 27th Mar– 07th April, 2023

SEPC with the support of Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India and recommendation by EP Services Division, is organizing India’s services sector trade delegation Buyer Seller Meet (BSM) to ASEAN region covering Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam & Thailand from 27th March to 07th April, 2023 covering following sectors which have demand in ASEAN region:

➢ Accounting and Auditing Services

➢ Educational Services

➢ Healthcare Services

➢ Architectural, Construction & Related Engineering, Environmental Services

➢ KPO/ ITO Services

➢ Logistics Services

➢ Tourism Services

➢ Entertainment Services

➢ Other Professional services

Benefits you may get while participating at BSM to ASEAN region.

• Focused pre scheduled B2B meetings in each country

• Understand the market potential from experts in ASEAN region.

• Networking Opportunities with potential buyers in ASEAN region.

• Generate business leads and sign MOUs for collaborations.

• Meetings with relevant government and related stakeholders.

SEPC registered Members whose export turnover during the previous financial year is less than/up to Rs.50 crores (should not be zero) and who have completed one year of membership with SEPC will be eligible for assistance under new MAI scheme up to a maximum of Rs. 75,000/- towards economy class air fare, subject to terms and conditions of new MAI scheme and approval by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry

Notification

Guidelines on Prevention of Misleading Advertisements and Endorsements for Misleading Advertisements, 2022

The Central Consumer Protection authority (CCPA) under the Department of Consumer Affairs has notified ‘Guidelines for Prevention of Misleading Advertisements and Endorsements for Misleading Advertisements, 2022’ with an objective to curb misleading advertisements and protect the consumers, who may be exploited or affected by such advertisements.

The guidelines seek to ensure that consumers are not being fooled with unsubstantiated claims, exaggerated promises, misinformation and false claims. Such advertisements violates various rights of consumers such as right to be informed, right to choose and right to be safeguarded against potentially unsafe products and services

Keeping in view the sensitiveness and vulnerability of children and severe impact advertisements make on the younger minds, several preemptive provisions have been laid down on advertisements targeting children. Guidelines says that advertisement targeting children shall not feature any personalities from the field of sports, music or cinema for products which under any law requires a health warning for such advertisement or cannot be purchased by children

Guidelines also stipulates that disclaimer shall not attempt to hide material information with respect to any claim made in such advertisement, the omission or absence of which is likely to make the advertisement deceptive or conceal its commercial intent and shall not attempt to correct a misleading claim made in an advertisement.

Similarly, clear Guidelines are laid for duties of manufacturer, service provider, advertiser and advertising agency, due diligence to be carried out before endorsing and others. Guidelines aims to protect consumer’s interest through bringing in more transparency and clarity in the way advertisements are being published, so that, consumers are able to make informed decisions based on facts rather than false narratives and exaggerations. 

Penalty for violating the Guidelines are also clearly outlined. CCPA can impose penalty of upto 10 lakh rupees on manufacturers, advertisers and endorsers for any misleading advertisements. For subsequent contraventions, CCPA may impose a penalty of upto 50 lakh rupees. The Authority can prohibit the endorser of a misleading advertisement from making any endorsement for upto 1 year and for subsequent contravention, prohibition can extend upto 3 years.

Source: https://consumeraffairs.nic.in/en/latestnews/guidelines-prevention-misleading-advertisements-and-endorsements-misleading

Buyer Seller Meet

Indian Business Delegation for Buyer Seller Meet (BSM) in ASEAN Region covering Vietnam, Cambodia, Philippines & Indonesia from 20th Feb– 04th Mar 2023

SEPC with the support of Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India and recommendation by EP Services Division, India is organizing India’s services sector trade delegation Buyer Seller Meet (BSM) to ASEAN region covering Vietnam, Cambodia, Philippines & Indonesia from 20th Feb. – 04th Mar. 2023 covering following sectors which have demand in ASEAN region:

➢Hotel & Tourism Services
➢Educational Services
➢Healthcare Services
➢Architectural, Construction & Related Engineering Services
➢Entertainment Services (Including AVCG)

Benefits to participants on participating at BSM to ASEAN region.

• Focused prescheduled B2B meetings in each country
• Understand the market potential from experts in ASEAN region.
• Networking Opportunities with potential buyers in ASEAN region.
• Generate business leads and sign MOUs for collaborations.
• Meetings with relevant government and related stakeholders

The tentative programme for this BSM is given in Annexure A for your kind reference.

An estimate of expenditure heads which has to be managed by the participants are –

  • Flight tickets: For 4 countries, approximate cost would be INR ,1,59,000
  • Hotel stay: Approximately USD 130 -165 USD per night.
  • Total Cost approximately for all 4 Countries – INR3,35,000.

SEPC shall share the details of travel partners for this delegation with participants separately.

MAI Support to Participants:

SEPC registered Members whose export turnover during the previous financial year is less than/up to Rs.50 crores and who have completed one year of membership with SEPC will be eligible for assistance under new MAI scheme up to a maximum of Rs. 75,000/- towards economy class air fare, subject to terms and conditions of new MAI scheme and approval by the Ministry of Commerce & Industry.

Registration Link: https://tinyurl.com/7v5byhr6

Advisory for Minimum Essentials Fire Safety Measures

NABH – Advisory for Minimum Essential Fire Safety Measures for All Healthcare Facilities

NABH (National Accreditation Board for Hospitals And Healthcare Providers) has issued an advisory recently on Minimum Essential Fire Safety Measures to be followed by healthcare organizations in the country.

This was the advisory for Minimum Essential Fire Safety Measures applicable to Healthcare Units under all schemes of Certification and Accreditation offered by NABH. These guidelines are meant to ensure patient safety and in no way absolves the organization of fulfilling its statutory obligations with regard to fire safety while implementing Certification, Accreditation Programs in the country.

The Advisory has listed out the scenarios where a Healthcare Organisation has Fire NOC, has No Fire NOC in place. The content of the advisory released by NABH is shared below for information purposes :

Advisory Content :

When the Healthcare Facility has Fire NOC in place, advisory calls for health facilities to check on the compliance to the minimum essential home Act/DHO fire safety measures are in place and or functioning.

Advisory says when the Healthcare facilities don’t have Fire NOC , following steps have to be addressed by a healthcare organisation :

  • Approval/Registration from local health authority Eg: Nursing home Act/DHO
  • If Fire NOC is not applicable, organisation has to provide valid justification for the same.
  • If Fire NOC is applicable, confirm that the organization has applied for fire NOC and there is regular correspondence (at least once in three months) with fire department which is acknowledged. Any correspondence received from the fire department has to be submitted.
  • In the absence of Fire NOC, Third Party Inspection Certificate should be made available.
  • The third-party audit should provide evidence to suggest that statutory norms are adhered to Any Observation by the third party should have been addressed.
  • The third-party inspection certificate is valid for a maximum period of one year
  • Head of the organization/Promoter to give an undertaking on the organization’s letter-head stating that fire safety measures are in place and adhered to at all times.
  • During assessment, verify that the points in the checklist are in place and are functioning

*NABH prescribes that Fire & Life Safety Inspection Certificates under NABCB accreditation issued by NABCB accredited Type ‘A’ Inspection Bodies for Fire & Life Safety Inspections of hospitals/health care providers shall be in accordance with the following:
a. National Building Code of India
b. Model Bill to provide for the maintenance of Fire and Emergency service for the state (2019)
c. Respective State Fire Safety Rules
d. NABH accreditation requirements for fire safety and applicable statutes
e. Any other applicable statutes.

Such Fire & Life Safety Inspection Certificates shall be accepted in lieu of statutory Fire NOC, only for consideration for the purpose of NABH accreditation. This does not absolve the hospitals/health care providers from complying to Fire NOC requirements/any other extent applicable statutes. It shall be sole responsibility of hospitals/health care providers to obtain Fire NOC, as applicable.

NABCB accredited Inspection Bodies shall be required to issue a final Fire & Life Safety Inspection certificate under NABCB accreditation bearing NABCB Accreditation Mark after the inspection is carried out and satisfactory corrective action and resolution of non-conformities, if any.

NABH accreditation requirements for Fire & Life Safety : (in addition to above)

  1. Firefighting equipment like wet riser, hydrants, auto sprinkler, fire alarm system, fire extinguishers of all types and sizes should be available as per table below (adapted from NBC 2016).
  2. Operational and maintenance plan for firefighting equipment including refilling of extinguishers.
  3. Up to date fire drawings to be available. Where applicable, the fire drawings should also specify the location of fire dampers.
  4. Fire detection and smoke detectors exist across all floors. The detectors shall be tested for functionality at regular intervals, and records maintained.
  5. Central fire alarm system is installed at a location which is staffed 24/7.
  6. Fire exit plan for each floor. Exit door should be openable and free from any materials which will obstruct way.
  7. Fire Exit signage on all floors well illuminated/ self-glowing, as per NBC guidelines.
  8. Emergency illumination system in case power goes.
  9. Designated place for assembly of patients and staff in case of fire.
  10. Mock fire drill records and schedule of conduct of drills.

Minimum Requirements for Fire Fighting Installations

Advisory can be downloaded by clicking on the link below.

Source of the Information :
https://nabh.co/Announcement/Revised%20Advisory%20for%20Minimum%20Essential%20Fire%20Safety%20Measures%20-20.09.2022.pdf

Above advisory says that Healthcare organisations need to obtain a Fire and Life Safety Inspection Certificates from Third Parties – Type A accredited Inspection Agencies accredited by NABCB in accordance with NBC 2016 and various other Regulations as mandated under various statutes, Rules, laws of centre , state etc

Hospitals , Healthcare Institutions have to look out for Type A Inspection Bodies (IBs) accredited by NABCB if they don’t have Fire NOC to seek Fire and Life Safety Inspections. Type A IBs have to obtain necessary accreditation scope as per various regulatory requirements, standards in the country. These IBs may have to seek accreditation as per IAF Code 34 ; NACE Code 71 which addresses the Inspection of Buildings activities

At the moment NABCB Accredited IBs with above IAF Scope are not found NABCB Registry. Few IBs may seek Accreditation under above scope to cater to the requirement specified by NABH in future. Healthcare organisations have to refer NABCB’s Registry for more updates on the accredited IBs list.

It’s a good move to encourage healthcare businesses to show compliance and adherence to Regulatory, Statutory requirements by offering Safety and Assurance to the users of healthcare facilities and Employees as well.

NABH Announcements

Announcements from NABH – Fee Remittance Norms & Communication Matrix to be followed by all Applicant / Certified / Accredited Healthcare Organizations

Announcement 1 – Fee Remittance Notification

Kind Attention : All applicant / Accredited / Certified Health Care Organisations under all programs of NABH

In continuation to the previous notice of NABH related to fee payments  issued  on February 16, 2021, many Healthcare Organisations associated with NABH, are still making direct payment to Quality Council of India – NABH. NABH is facing d i f f i cu l t y in reconciling the amounts received directly as the details of payment are also not updated by the respective HCOs in their online portal.

To avoid unnecessary wastage of time  and  manpower  in  tracking  the  payments, NABH advises its stakeholders to  make payments  only through  the online portal  using the Payment Gateway  so that the payments  are appropriately  tracked  for  convenience  of all the parties.

In order to facilitate the Healthcare  Organisations  to reconcile  the fee payment  status,  NABH is requesting all the HCOs to follow the below steps with immediate effect:

  1. The HCOs a r e advised to login into their HCO account on the NABH portal for making payments through payment gateway via credit card/debit card/net banking.
  • HCOs are advised to refrain from depositing cash/cheque/DD directly into  any  account of Quality Council of India.
  • In case the HCO has no other option but Bank Transfer (NEFT/RTGS), it shall be responsibility of the HCO to update the transaction details like Unique Transaction Reference (UTR) Number, Date of Transaction, Transaction Amount, etc  on  the NABH Portal under the Make Payment category and inform NABH that the Payment was done and get the receipts generated for the payments made.
  • The HCOs are also requested to ensure that the payment details with respect to fee payments of current and previous accreditation cycles have been updated on the NABH portal account of the HCO, if not done earlier.

QCI-NABH plans to stop direct payments into its accounts done through DD/Cheque/Cash Deposit/Offline Bank Transfer (NEFT/RTGS) by March 31, 2022 and is seeking the cooperation from HCOs in this regards.

Download the notification from NABH here

Announcement 2 – Communication Matrix Released for the benefit of all Applicant / Certified / Accredited HCOs

NABH has earlier issued NABH communication matrix – NABH/Notification/Communication/2020/2049 dated 25th September 2020

All the applicant and accredited/ certified HCOs that are listed in the NABH portal have the provisions for making communications with the officials of NABH through “REMARKS COLUMN”. All HCOs are requested to utilise “REMARKS” for communicating/ raising queries regarding status of their applications for accreditation/ certification to ensure transparency as well as for records.

HCOs are also requested to refrain themselves from communicating through emails or telephonically. It is practically not possible to reply to each mail or phone call individually. Moreover, neither your communication nor reply from NABH is captured for the case record purpose.

In case, the queries of the HCOs submitted through remarks on the portal are not replied within three working days, emails to Program Heads may be sent, along with contents of email copied at on-line portal remark column. The list of all programs of NABH and the responsible Program Head with contact details are listed in the notification released by NABH.

Download the notification from NABH

Source : https://nabh.co/index.aspx

World Quality Month Programs

WORLD QUALITY MONTH – INDUSTRY CONNECT KNOWLEDGE SERIES – WEBINARS

Global focus on Product/Service Quality and Safety has undergone a dramatic change after the pandemic crisis across the globe.

Quality and Safety of Global Public Goods call for International Alignment of Standards, Certifications, Testing norms etc to ensure that Consumers Health, Safety and Well being is not compromised.

Responsible Production is the Global Call of Action and the it’s the Responsibility of the Global Markets to ensure Responsible Supply Chain as Consumer Welfare measure.  Global economy is moving towards Borderless Economy and many countries will have market access to global markets due to supply chain shortages. The countries which assure Authentic and Responsible Supply Chains will have strong acceptance across the globe. 

India too is seeing a huge surge in exports as well as in imports of Products and Services and how do to ensure that Consumers are assured of Quality and Safe Products and Services in domestic as well as in International Markets.

It is in this context that Consultants Consortium of Chennai (CCC) is rolling out series of Knowledge Sessions to Celebrate the November Month of Quality by connecting Industry and Stakeholders to various sessions which are the need of the hour programs.

CCC has scheduled 6 sessions spread , across the month of November, starting from November 11th 2021 till end of the month. Multiple sessions covering various sectors are scheduled.

CCC will keep communicating and inviting all stakeholders and industry to the sessions. Sessions will have the support of industry, academia, young entrepreneurs, innovators forums and various other stakeholder organizations.

This information is being shared to facilitate industry, academia, startups, Management Systems Consultants and various other stakeholders to register for the sessions . 

Sessions are conducted through Virtual Mode and there is NO REGISTRATION FEE.

SESSION 1 – NOVEMBER 11TH 2021, THURSDAY- 4 :00 PM – 5:30 PM

TOPIC – RESPONSIBLE QUALITY CERTIFICATIONS

Delegate Registration Link :

Registered Delegates shall receive autogenerated registration link from Zoom id. Please check your spam folders too if you do not receive the mail in your in box.

For further assistance , email to – contact@ccc-consultants.org

SESSION 2 – NOVEMBER 13TH 2021, SATURDAY – 4 :00 PM – 5:30 PM

TOPIC – Accessing Global Markets – Role of Private Certifications in Food Sector

Delegate Registration Link :

Registered Delegates shall receive autogenerated registration link from Zoom id. Please check your spam folders too if you do not receive the mail in your in box.

For further assistance , email to – contact@ccc-consultants.org

WORLD QUALITY MONTH SERIES – SUPPORTING BY INDUSTRY ASSNS, CHAMBERS

Global Services Conclave

Global Services Conclave 2021 – India Serves: Exploring Potential Growth Sectors Beyond IT/ITes

Global Services Conclave 2021
“India Serves: Exploring Potential Growth Sectors Beyond IT/ITes”
10.00 AM-4.30 PM, Tuesday, 9th November 2021
New Delhi, Delhi 110021

The service sector has invited considerable interest among policymakers for its larger contribution to global output, contributing almost more than three-fifths of global GDP and about half of the employment opportunities across the world.

India’s service sector is no exception to the global service composition as its share is over 60 per cent of the national output. India has emerged as a global hub for the supply of various services, and today India exports over $200 billion of services annually, which contribute to 7% of India’s GDP. Services account for 54 per cent of India’s Gross Value Added (GVA) and account for more than 40 per cent of India’s total global exports. Services exports lead directly to the employment of approximately 2.6 crores people in India while leading to indirect employment as well.

Despite the pandemic, the sector has shown immense resilience and services exports stood at $ 206 billion in 2020-21 showing a decline of only 3 per cent. Throughout the decade (2010 to 2021) the CAGR of the services sector has been 6%. Based on trends and present performance of the sector SEPC has projected a target of $250 bn for services exports in the FY 2021-22 and a target of US$ 1 trillion including IT and ITES by 2030 as suggested by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India.

In the above context, SEPC is organising its first Global Services Conclave on 9th Nov 2021 which will be an annual feature of SEPC henceforth.

The Conclave will focus on deliberations and discussions to create a roadmap to achieve the projected target. While there will be talks on key service sectors, the focus will be on capacity building, enhancing competitiveness, MSME support, creating jobs, policy recommendations and more.

Looking forward to your participation as our distinguished Sponsor for this prestigious event. Please find attached the presentation on Sponsorship.

For any collaborations, sponsorship enquiries, please reach out to:

Mr Vikrant Wadhera +91 9910316373
Email – Vikrant.wadhera@servicesepc.org

Register for the Program Here :

Laboratory Excellence Award

Prof. S.K. Joshi Laboratory Excellence Award from QCI NBQP

Prof. S.K. Joshi – Laboratory Excellence Award has been instituted to promote Laboratory Quality and performance improvement in the country. The award has been incepted to ensure the laboratory’s commitment to achieve excellence in providing high precision testing and calibration services in line with the prevalent national/international quality systems legislations including Health, Safety, Environment (HSE).

The Award is to recognize Laboratories (Testing, Medical and Calibration) those have established outstanding achievements in the field of Quality in services and benchmarked in their domain for their best practices

Eligibility:

1.This award is open to all currently operational Laboratories pertaining to Testing, Calibration & Medical including their Proficiency Testing Providers & Reference Material Producers located in India.
2.Participating labs are required to operate the applicable Quality System according to the requirements as stipulated in ISO 17025/ISO 15189/ISO 17043/ISO 17034, regarding its implementation and monitoring.
3. The award require labs to operate with proper HSE measures.
4.The Laboratory should not have been convicted by any Court.
5.A Laboratory once awarded can be considered only after a period of 3 Years

The 5 stages of assessment by Technical Expert Committee (TEC) are as follows:-

Stage 1: Application Document Evaluation
Stage 2: Physical/Virtual Presentation
Stage 3: Site Assessment / verification
Stage 4: Evaluation through Reference check of customer in special case
Stage 5: Inputs to Jury for final evaluation

Assessment Criteria

The assessment of the application submitted by the laboratory is made on the basis of various parameters which have been identified by a team of experts from NBQP/QCI.

Primary Parameters:

  1. Management Commitment – Qualification, Experience, Training & Innovation, Quality Improvement and skill upgradation.
  2. Strategy – Accreditation for entire Laboratory activities (to ensure Sustainability).
  3. Processes – Standard Method (National/International), Validation/Verification, Equipment/Techniques used and Measurement Traceability to SI units.
  4. Infrastructure & Quality Control Resources – Facilities and Environmental Conditions (Innovation for enhancing Good Laboratories Practices) owned by Lab. Use of Certified Reference material, Proficiency Testing Program participation and Inter-Laboratory Comparison and other QC checks.
  5. Customer Complaints, Feedback and Improvement – Diagnosis of the problem (Root Cause Analysis & Quality tools deployed)
  6. Key Results/Satisfaction – Reports, Customer Results, Society Results and Employee Satisfaction. Tangible benefits, intangible benefits or socio economic and environmental benefits

Terms & Conditions Of The Award:

1. Non – disclosure and confidentiality
I. The names of the applicants, evaluation and scoring system developed for the assessment process will be regarded as proprietary and kept confidential. Such information shall be made available only to those individuals who will be directly involved in the assessment and administrative process and shall not be disclosed.
II. QCI will not disclose the details about the shortlisted/non-shortlisted laboratories at any stage of the assessment. The qualified laboratories will be notified via e-mail/call by the QCI office directly.
2. Any misinterpretation of facts will disqualify the laboratories from Awards.
3. Applications received with incomplete data will not qualify.
4. Any Award applicant and Awardee cannot use the NBQP and QCI logo in anyway that suggests that QCI is affiliated with, sponsors, approves or endorses you, your organization, your websites, your products or your services etc.

Application Fees

There is no Application Fees

Award Presenatation

The awards will be presented during a special Award Ceremony

Where to Apply ?

Award Details

check here to know more about various awards and details

When is the Last date for applying ?

Last date for submitting the application form is 16th November 2021

For any queries, contact :

Source – https://labexcellenceaward.qcin.org/Home.aspx

Financial assistance for the establishment of AYUSH Super Specialty Hospitals and Day Care Centres

Champion Services Sector Scheme for Medical Value Travel

Financial assistance in the form of Interest Subsidy for the establishment of AYUSH Super Specialty Hospitals/ Day Care Centres under Champion Services Sector Scheme for Medical Value Travel Ministry of AYUSH invited application in the prescribed format under Central Sector Scheme for establishment of AYUSH Super Specialty Hospitals/ Day Care Centres under Champion Services Sector Scheme for Medical value Travel for the year 2020-21 from the eligible private entrepreneurs registered under Societies Registration Act/ Trust/ Companies Act vide advertisement in leading news papers as well as through the website of Ministry of AYUSH. The last date of submitting applications was 08.03.2021. However, to give ample time to the investors, Ministry has extended the last date and now applications can be submitted in prescribed format up to 5:30 P.M. of 08.04.2021

The eligible private entrepreneurs may submit complete applications in prescribed format along with the required documents/ information to the Ministry of AYUSH. The detail of guidelines is available on the website of the Ministry of AYUSH and can be downloaded from here

The applications in triplicate duly spiral bound and completed in all respect along with check list should reach to the :

Advisor (Ay.), Champion Services Sector Scheme
Medical Value Travel, M/o AYUSH, Room No. 207, 2nd Floor, Ayush Bhawan, B-Block, GPO
Complex, INA, New Delhi-110023.

Information Source : https://main.ayush.gov.in/event/financial-assistance-form-interest-subsidy-establishment-ayush-super-specialty-hospitals-and