Twelve Countries sign Medicrime Convention on Counterfeit Medicines

A further step has been made to fight against counterfeit medicine. Twelve countries have paved the way for the implementation of the Medicrime Convention by signing the first international treaty on October 28th. It was signed at the end of a two-day conference and establishes the manufacturing, the supplying and the trafficking of counterfeit medical products as offences.

The Council of Europe called on European and non-European States to follow Austria, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Switzerland and Ukraine by quickly joining the Convention.

The Convention will allow to re-enforce national legislations in terms of prevention, protection of victims of counterfeit medical products and prosecution of counterfeiters through dissuasive sanctions. The Convention will also boost international co-operation between the competent health and law enforcement authorities.

As a result of the discussions during the conference, governments, international organisations, associations of patients, healthcare professionals and the medical products' manufacturing and distribution chain proposed to work together by:

• launching public awareness-raising campaigns on the dangers of counterfeit medical products;
• setting international training programmes for officials and health professionals;
• developing tools for the identification and follow-up of health damages, and providing services for the traceability of medicinal products.

The Convention will enter into force when ratified by five countries, including three Council of Europe member states.

Source: Press Release EDQM

Further information can be found in the Factsheet of the Council of Europe.