Kyiv, Ukraine, 11-12 June 2013

The Council of Europe (CoE) organised the first Regional Conference on the Council of Europe Convention on the counterfeiting of medical products and similar crimes involving threats to public health (MEDICRIME Convention), in Kyiv, Ukraine, on 11-12 June 2013, with the support of the Vice-Prime Minister of Ukraine, Mr Kostyantyn Gryschenko, the State Administration of Ukraine on Medicinal Products and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

The Conference was opened by Mr Kostyantyn Gryschenko, Vice-Prime Minister of Ukraine.

Around 100 participants attended the Conference, representing the following countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Turkey and Ukraine. Representatives of diplomatic missions and international organisations took also part in the Conference.

The aim of the Conference was to promote the MEDICRIME Convention in the different CoE member states and encourage member states to sign and ratify it.

The participants thanked the CoE and the Ukrainian authorities for organising the first Regional Conference at the National Medical University of Kyiv.

Following the discussions, delegates/participants agreed:

• to note that counterfeiting of medical products and similar crimes involving threats to public health has taken on global dimensions;
• that due to the absence of effective deterring legislation and sanctions, the counterfeiting of medical products has become an extremely lucrative business for organised criminal groups;
• that the MEDICRIME Convention is the only comprehensive, international criminal law convention dealing in an effective way with the counterfeiting of medical products and similar crimes;
• that there is a need to strengthen, and where possible harmonise, domestic legislation to enable law enforcement authorities to effectively combat the counterfeiting of medical products and similar crimes.