Infant Milk Substitutes Act, 1992

The Infant Milk Substitutes Act, 1992 restricts commercial promotion of products that can undermine breastfeeding. Its full title is the Infant Milk Substitutes, Feeding Bottles and Infant Foods (Regulation of Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 1992. As amended in 2003, it regulates promotion of infant milk substitutes, feeding bottles and infant foods to protect and promote breastfeeding and ensure their proper use.

Advertising and claims about breast-milk substitutes

Section 3 prohibits advertising and other promotional activities for the covered products. The restrictions extend beyond misleading advertisements to promotion itself.

• A person cannot advertise, or participate in publishing an advertisement, for the distribution, sale or supply of infant milk substitutes, feeding bottles or infant foods.
• A person cannot create the impression that infant milk substitutes or infant foods are equivalent to or better than mother's milk.
• Participation in the promotion of the covered products is prohibited.

Samples, gifts and direct contact

Section 4 prohibits specified methods of approaching consumers to promote the use or sale of the covered products.

• Supplying or distributing samples, gifts, utensils or other articles for promotional purposes is prohibited.
• Contacting a pregnant woman or the mother of an infant for such promotion is prohibited.
• Offering other inducements to promote use or sale is also prohibited.

Promotion through healthcare institutions and workers

The Act restricts the use of healthcare settings and professional relationships as marketing channels.

• Section 8 prohibits using a healthcare system to display promotional placards or posters, or to distribute material promoting the covered products.
• Payments to health workers or their associations to promote the use or sale of these products are prohibited.
• Section 9 prohibits producers, suppliers and distributors from offering contributions or pecuniary benefits to health workers or their associations, including funding seminars, conferences, educational courses, fellowships or research.
• Health workers and their associations are correspondingly prohibited from soliciting or accepting these contributions or benefits.

Idealising labels and misleading educational material

Promotion is also controlled through restrictions on product presentation and information.

• Section 6 prohibits pictures of infants or women, and pictures or graphic material designed to increase saleability, on labels of infant milk substitutes or infant foods.
• Such labels cannot use “humanised”, “maternalised” or similar expressions.
• Section 7 prohibits educational or informational material from suggesting that feeding infant milk substitutes is equivalent to or better than breastfeeding.