Brief: France ratifies Medicrime convention

France has become the ninth country to ratify the Medicrime Convention, which establishes a framework for international cooperation in the fight against counterfeit drugs.

The convention - drawn up in 2010 by the Council of Europe (CoE) - will come into force in France on 1 January, 2017, a year after Medicrime came into effect triggered by its ratification by five member states.

To date, the other countries that have ratified the convention are Albania, Armenia, Belgium, Guinea, Hungary, Moldova, Spain and Ukraine. A further 17 member and non-member states of the CoE have signed the convention, which makes the manufacturing and supply of falsified/counterfeit medical products a criminal offence.

Medicrime 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.