During the 5th plenary session of the Medicrime Committee that took place on 1 December 2021, the Committee of the Parties voted in favour of granting the official status of Observer to the Fight the Fakes Alliance.
The Medicrime Convention, drafted by the Council of Europe, constitutes the first binding international instrument in the criminal law field that focuses on the criminal act of counterfeiting medical products and other crimes that threaten public health. Fight the Fakes has been supporting the Convention since its creation by calling on States to sign and ratify it.
We are proud to have gained the official observer status.
The Convention tackles the protection of human well-being through a three-fold mechanism: prosecuting the counterfeiting of medical products, protecting the rights of victims and promoting national and international cooperation. Since its opening for accession in 2011, the Convention has been ratified by 18 countries and there are currently 6 countries in the process of ratification, and 3 more have expressed their wish to be invited by the Committee of Ministers to sign the Convention.
The observer status will allow Fight the Fakes to contribute with relevant information, experience and good practices falling within the Convention’s remit with the aim of improving the Parties’ capacity to prevent and combat the counterfeiting of medical products and other similar crimes involving threats to public health and enhancing international co-operation. You can find more information about the Medicrime observer here.
Fight the Fakes has become the 6th organization to be granted observer status, following Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacy in the EU (ASOP EU), the Brazzaville Foundation, the Conference of Ministers of Justice of Ibero-American Countries (COMJIB), the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA), the ‘Organisation PanAfricaine de Lutte pour la Santé’ (OPALS) and the Pharmaceutical Security Institute (PSI).
We look forward to a fruitful collaboration!
