Back MEDICRIME Convention presented to Ms Rose Mutombo Kiese, Minister of Justice of the Democratic Republic of Congo

MEDICRIME Convention presented to Ms Rose Mutombo Kiese, Minister of Justice of the Democratic Republic of Congo

The Council of Europe Convention on the counterfeiting of medical products and other similar crimes involving threats to public health (CETS No. 211), known as the MEDICRIME Convention, was presented to Ms Rose Mutombo Kiese, Minister of Justice of the Democratic Republic of Congo, by the Executive Secretary of the Committee of the Parties to the Convention. The discussion focused on the numerous benefits of this criminal-law convention.

Intended to protect public health, the MEDICRIME Convention introduces criminal sanctions and provides for preventive measures and the protection of victims. Open to accession by countries around the world, the Convention also provides a framework for international co-operation and measures to improve co-ordination at national level.

In Africa, the MEDICRIME Convention has already been ratified by 5 countries (Benin, Burkina-Faso, Guinea, Mali and Niger). Two other countries (Côte d’Ivoire and Mali) have signed the Convention, and three other countries (Congo, Togo and Tunisia) have been invited to accede to the Convention.

Kinshasa 08/11/2022
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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.

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"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