Back Council of Europe Committee of Ministers Declaration on the MEDICRIME Convention

@ Council of Europe

@ Council of Europe

To mark the MEDICRIME Convention’s 10th Anniversary, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted a Declaration reaffirming the key role of the MEDICRIME Convention which was opened for signature in Moscow on 28 October 2011. It underlined how important the Convention is for guaranteeing and promoting the protection of public health by combatting counterfeit medical products and other similar crimes.

The Committee of Ministers also expressed both the importance of having a single, guiding committee to monitor the implementation of the MEDICRIME Convention (the Committee of the Parties) and its resolve to ensure that the Convention is given the political support and the tools and means required to ensure its effectiveness.

Finally, the Committee stressed that challenges, such as the Covid-19 pandemic further highlight the importance of a strong and effective Convention.

Please see the full Declaration here

More info and registration form for the 10th Anniversary conference here
Strasbourg 16 November 2021
  • Diminuer la taille du texte
  • Augmenter la taille du texte
  • Imprimer la page
Covid 19

At a time when the Covid-19 epidemic is posing unprecedented challenges to the health sector, the Council of Europe calls on governments to be extremely vigilant against counterfeit or falsified medicines and medical products. Faced with this threat, states can rely on the MEDICRIME Convention to safeguard public health and target the criminal behaviour of those who, like criminal networks, take advantage of the loopholes in our systems and of the current crisis.

Handbook for Parliamentarians

English - Français - Русский - Español

Handbook for Parliamentarians

SaveSave
SaveSave

"In recent years, occurrences of counterfeiting of medical products and similar crimes have increased worldwide. These crimes endanger public health, and affect patients and their confidence in the legal marketplace.

Even more profitable than drug trafficking, this new form of crime has an undeniable advantage for criminals: they go largely unpunished or receive only mild sanctions. Even when states take strict measures to regulate the production and distribution of medical products and devices, these measures often prove insufficient, especially when criminal networks find gaps in national legislations allowing them to make substantial profits at the expense of people’s lives and health. The MEDICRIME Convention was drafted to protect vulnerable patients and their right to safe access to medicines of appropriate quality, and to fight against organised crime. As the first and only international treaty dealing with this problem, the convention aims at prosecuting the counterfeiting of medical products and similar crimes, protecting the rights of victims and promoting national and international co-operation."

Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni
Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe