CDSCO
Definition
Central Drugs Standard Control Organization, headquartered in Delhi, headed by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI). The federal regulator under the 1940 Act.
- Full form
- Central Drugs Standard Control Organization
- Headquarters
- Delhi
- Head
- Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI)
- Governing law
- Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940
- Role
- Federal drug regulator
Common questions
How does CDSCO's role differ from a state drug control authority?+
CDSCO handles central functions such as new drug approvals, clinical trial oversight and import licensing, while state authorities license manufacturing and sale within their own territory. The two work under the same 1940 Act but at different levels.
Why does CDSCO matter in a forensic toxicology case?+
It sets the approved formulations, scheduling and manufacturing standards that a forensic toxicologist references when assessing whether a seized or ingested substance is a legitimate pharmaceutical, an adulterated batch, or an unapproved product.
Related terms
- Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940
- Central statute governing the import, manufacture, sale and distribution of drugs and cosmetics in India. Read with the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules...
- NDPS Act 1985
- India's Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act 1985, the primary statute governing drug offences, establishing small and commercial quantity thresholds that determine...
- Poison Act 1919
- Seventeen-section central statute empowering state governments to notify substances as 'poisons' and to license their sale, possession and import. Still in force.
- Schedule H
- List of prescription drugs under the 1945 Rules; sold only on a registered medical practitioner's prescription. Includes most antibiotics, sedatives, antipsychotics and...
- Schedule H1
- Forty-six substances notified by the 2013 amendment (Drugs and Cosmetics Fourth Amendment Rules, 2013, GSR 588(E) dated 30 August 2013, in force...
- Schedule X
- Psychotropic substances and narcotics notified under the 1945 Rules. Stored under double lock, register retained for two years, copy of prescription retained.