European countries sign treaty to combat fake drugs

Several countries, mostly European nations, signed over the weekend the first-ever international treaty to combat the growing multibillion-dollar counterfeit drugs industry.

The Council of Europe Committee of Ministers adopted a convention in Moscow that obliges signatory states to criminalise the counterfeiting and also manufacturing and supplying of medical products in the market without authorisation or without being in compliance with the Medicrime Convention.

Austria, Finland, Italy, Israel, Iceland, Portugal, Switzerland and Ukraine have signed the treaty that mow makes it a crime sell fake medicines that harm patients and deprive genuine pharmaceutical companies of revenues.

The Council of Europe has long been concerned about the absence of international legislation, non-deterrent sanctions that were not proportionate to the harm caused to patients, and the involvement of criminal organisations which operate across borders.

Estelle Steiner, Council of Europe media officer, said that ''the global trend has been that these crimes were often not considered as serious enough to merit criminal law measures.''

''In some countries, these activities have already been criminalised. In others, the governments will have to introduce new measures,'' she added.