Back Raising awareness of the MEDICRIME Convention among custom authorities

Raising awareness of the MEDICRIME Convention among custom authorities

A workshop on the MEDICRIME Convention was held on 1 and 2 June 2023. More than 120 customs representatives from 13 francophone countries (Benin, Burkina -Faso, Central African Republic, Republic Democratic of Congo, Cameroon, Republic of Congo (Brazzaville), France, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Switzerland, Tchad and Togo, all members from the International Association of French-Speaking Customs Officials (AIDF), which has observer status at the MEDICRIME Committee, actively took part at this event at the Council of Europe.

Participants were informed about the work of the MEDICRIME Convention and its monitoring mechanism. Moreover, during a panel discussion, there was an exchange of views on the different seizures found in their respective countries related to counterfeiting of medical products.

This activity has been developed under component 1 of the CRIMFAMED project (Promotion of the MEDICRIME Convention).

Strasbourg 07/06/2023
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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