Joint Assembly of the Convention concluded between the African, Caribbean and Pacific States and the European Union (ACP-EU) - Resolutions adopted on fake medicines (ACP-EU/2140/97/fin.)

The ACP-EU Joint Assembly,

- meeting in Brussels from 17 to 20 March 1997,

A. alarmed at the fact that a criminal traffic in counterfeit medicines is thriving with complete impunity, threatening the health and, in some cases, the lives of populations in developing countries,

B. whereas, according to the World Health Organization, the counterfeiting of pharmaceutical products is a rapidly expanding sector, especially in countries on the African continent,

C. whereas the African continent is seriously affected by this serious problem, in particular because industrial property is insufficiently protected there,

D. whereas, as a result of the devaluation of the CFA franc and the structural adjustment programmes to which those African countries are subject, the price of medicines has become prohibitive for the majority of the population, which has, as a result, turned to parallel markets,

E. whereas some counterfeit medicines contain toxic products posing a threat to the lives of patients,

F. whereas in 1990, for instance, more than 100 children died in Nigeria after taking a cough mixture which actually contained an industrial solvent, similar incidents took place shortly afterwards in Bangladesh, India and Haiti and, in 1995, an NGO alleged that it had found stocks of fake vaccines against meningitis in Niger,

G. whereas certain African and western countries harbour illegal laboratories manufacturing such fake medicines or served as countries of transit for medicines produced in other countries,

H. whereas this problem is, in fact, widespread in all countries which have not yet adopted a pharmaceutical regulation system based on reliable quality controls and whereas the traffic is encouraged by the difficulties or ineffectiveness of customs controls,

1. Strongly condemns the manufacturers and distributors of such fake medicines, who are jeopardizing the lives of millions of people in developing countries;

2. Calls on the Commission to assist states in developing quality control procedures, improving test laboratories and equipping themselves with pharmaceutical rules applicable to production, marketing and distribution of medicines;

3. Calls on the Commission, in cooperation with the WHO and with NGOs, to implement information and prevention programmes, raising awareness among the general public and specialized personnel of the dangers involved in consumption of such fake medicines;

4. Calls on NGOs to step up their cooperation at local level with health authorities in the countries concerned and at international level with the World Health Organization;

5. Calls on manufacturers of pharmaceutical products to comply with international rules on good manufacturing practices and on distributors to check the reliability of their suppliers;

6. Considers that the most effective way of combating the dissemination of counterfeit products in developing countries is to ensure that hospitals, clinics and pharmacies are supplied with generic medicines which may cost up to ten times less than comparable patent medicines;

7. Instructs its Co-Presidents to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council, the Member States, the World Health Organization and the ACP countries.