MEDICRIME Convention - AEC in a new stage of international cooperation

MEDICRIME Convention - AEC in a new stage of international cooperation

It is known that counterfeiting of medical and pharmaceutical products is a global threat to human health and the health system as a whole and is always relevant. Of course, the legislation plays an important role in regulating the conditions to eliminate this threat, which can cause harm to health. Therefore, in support of the Council of Europe's work against counterfeiting of medical products, it was important to develop a convention and make it politically valid.
For this purpose, the MEDICRIME Convention was established. The MEDICRIME Convention is an international legal instrument established by the Council of Europe in the field of law against counterfeiting of medical products and similar crimes endangering the health of the population. The objectives of the Convention (Article 1) are to protect the health of the population by criminalizing the activities described in the Convention, to promote cooperation at the national and international levels in the protection of victims of such activities, as well as to implement preventive measures. The Convention was signed on October 28, 2011. Entered into force on January 1, 2016. Since July 2016, the convention has been signed by 24 countries, only 9 countries (Albania, Russia, Armenia, Hungary, Belarus, Moldova, Spain, Ukraine, Guinea) have ratified it.
Steps are being taken for our country to join this important convention in the field of pharmacy. Thus, the experts of the Analytical Expertise Center represented our country as an observer in the video conference "MEDICRIME Convention: an international tool to combat crimes related to counterfeit pharmaceutical products during the" COVID-19 "pandemic." The conference was attended by more than 130 representatives of a number of countries and international organizations (EMEA, INTERPOL, CEPOL, WCO, IRACM, EFECC, OLAF, etc.), including member states of the Council of Europe. The role and importance of the Convention, as well as ways to address gaps in existing criminal law and improve enforcement mechanisms to protect public health were discussed.
In the future, the ratification of the MEDICRIME Convention by the Republic of Azerbaijan will lay the foundation for an important stage in the fight against counterfeit pharmaceutical crimes.