Back The MEDICRIME Convention presented to the national authorities from the Democratic Republic of Congo

The MEDICRIME Convention presented to the national authorities from the Democratic Republic of Congo

The MEDICRIME Convention was presented to the national authorities from the Democratic Republic of Congo in the framework of a technical seminar organised by the Medisafe project, a project financed by the EU aimed at fighting against the production and trafficking of falsified medicines and pharmaceutical products in eleven African countries.

This technical seminar was aimed at increasing the knowledge of legal professionals (judges and prosecutors), law-enforcement authorities (police and customs services) and members of the parliament on the MEDICRIME Convention and consolidating the national inter-ministerial committee (COLPHACOS).

The national authorities exchanged views, experiences and good practices to improve their capacity to prevent and combat the counterfeiting of medical products and similar crimes involving threats to public health. The way in which a state can be invited to accede to the Convention was also explained.

Democratic Republic of Congo 14/11/2022
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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