  We recall that the theory of electromagnetism consists of three building
blocks: (a) the inhomogeneous Maxwell equations for the electric and magnetic
excitations $(D,H)$ (which reflects charge conservation), (b) the homogeneous
Maxwell equations for the electric and magnetic field strengths $(E,B)$ (which
reflects flux conservation), and (c) the constitutive relation between $(D,H)$
and $(E,B)$. In the recent paper \cite{Lakhtakia1}, Lakhtakia proposed to
change the standard boundary conditions in electrodynamics in order to exclude
certain constitutive parameters. We show that this is inadmissible both from
the macroscopic and the microscopic points of view.
