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Moscow, 26-28 October 2011

This Conference was jointly organised by the competent authorities of the Russian Federation, the Council of Europe’s Directorate General of Human Rights and Legal Affairs (DG-HL) and the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines & HealthCare (EDQM), Directorate General of Social Cohesion.

The aim of the conference was to advance significantly the pressing fight against counterfeit medical products and similar crimes at the international level by opening the Medicrime Convention for signature, facilitating its rapid entry into force and effective implementation in Europe and beyond, making the fight against counterfeiting of medical products and similar crimes a priority on the political agenda, exchanging views on the practical implementation of the Medicrime Convention into domestic legislation through legislative support and practical measures.

On 26 and 27 October the thematic sessions of the High-Level Conference took place. The participants in the thematic sessions included health, judicial, law enforcement and customs authorities, senior officials responsible for policy-making, such as Chief Medical Officers, Chief Pharmaceutical Officers, as well as Heads of Medicines Agencies, representatives of international and European institutions and organisations, key stakeholders from the private sector and associations of healthcare professionals, of consumers and of patients.

The Opening for Signature Ceremony took place on 28 October.