Belgium strengthens the fight against the counterfeiting of health products

This Convention will be applicable as of 1 November 2016.

This Convention of the Council of Europe was open for signature in Moscow on 28 October 2011. At the current time, eight States, including Belgium, have ratified it. This Convention came into force on 1 January 2016 after its ratification by five States, of which three are members of the Council of Europe.

This Convention is the first legally binding international instrument fighting against the counterfeiting of medical products.

It contains both preventive measures, measures protecting victims and measures aiming to promote international legal co-operation.

It should be noted that the Law on medical products of 25 March 1964 already contains provisions incriminating the counterfeiting of medical products.

However, with the new Convention, these incriminations will also be extended to the counterfeiting or falsification of medical devices and investigational medicinal products, which is not currently provided for by Belgian legislation.

Furthermore, in accordance with Article 13 of the Convention, judges will now have to take into consideration aggravating circumstances for certain offences targeted by these provisions. Moreover, previous convictions will have to be taken into consideration for determining the punishment of offences established in accordance with the Convention (Article 14). Amendments to the legislation are also necessary.

The advantage of this Convention lies in its international nature and the aspect of co-operation between the States Parties that it involves. It will, however, need to be seen, in its implementation, how member States will optimise this co-operation. In addition, there are still, at the current time, only a few States bound by the Convention …