STRASBOURG, FR – MAY 26, 2021 – At the 4th plenary session of the Medicrime Committee of the Parties (CoP) the Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacy in the EU (ASOP EU) was voted in and now has official status as an Observer within this important and growing group of countries that have ratified the MEDICRIME Convention treaty. This followed a comprehensive application submission combined with an intervention at the plenary meeting on May 26th, 2021 from which the vote was taken.

ASOP EU joins four other NGOs: OPALS, PSI, Brazzaville Foundation and IFPMA.

The Medicrime Convention, under the guidance of the Council of Europe, constitutes for the first time a binding international instrument in the criminal law field on counterfeiting of medical products and similar crimes involving threats to public health. 

 “We have been working hard to gain this acceptance and it was due to the fact that we demonstrated the achievement of many concrete and collaborative actions to combat falsified medicines that we were accepted as an Observer in this important multi-country convention to fight falsified medicines,” said Mike Isles, Executive Director of ASOP EU. “We look forward to contributing to the many initiatives that need establishing within this convention.”

There are currently 18 countries that have ratified this treaty, and many more that are about to sign.

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About ASOP EU

The Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacy (ASOP EU) consists of patient organisations, healthcare providers, pharmacists, pharmaceutical companies, distributors, wholesalers, parallel traders, and online intermediaries, such as logistics and postal companies, ISPs and platforms, search engines, and financial service providers that transact payments.