Spain ratifies Medicrime convention

Spain has become the second country to ratify the Council of Europe's Medicrime Convention after Ukraine, just 10 months after signing the document.

To date 23 countries have signed the convention since it was first published October 2011, but full ratification - when a state consents to be legally bound by the terms of the treaty - is a slower process that involves approval by national parliaments.

Medicrime was drawn up in 2011 and aims to establish a framework for international cooperation concerning the fight against the production and distribution of counterfeit medicines, and is the first international treaty to establish the manufacturing and supply of falsified/counterfeit medical products as a criminal offence.

It also makes it illegal to falsify official documents relating to medicines, manufacture and supply drug products without authorisation and market medicines without complying with industry standards.

Its overall aim is to remedy the situation that counterfeiting of medicines can be handled differently from a legal perspective across all the countries in Europe.

To take effect, Medicrime must be ratified by at least five states, three of which must be members of the Council of Europe. So at present three more ratifications are needed, one of which must be by a member State of the CoE.

A regional conference on Medicrime is due to be held on 20-21 November in Madrid.