The Council of Europe has been long concerned with the supply conditions for medicines for human use and the harmonisation of national legislation in this field.
The availability of medicines with or without a medical prescription has implications on patient safety, accessibility of medicines to patients and responsible management of health care expenditure.
The decision on prescription status and related supply conditions is a core competency of national health authorities. The conditions of the supply of medicines vary considerably in Council of Europe member States, due to the fact that the provisions are differently interpreted and implemented by the member States, and that important additional classification criteria are not harmonised.
In continuing with the programme of activities carried out under the aegis of the former Partial Agreement in the Social and Public Health field, the Committee of Experts on the Classification of Medicines as Regards their Supply (CD-P-PH/PHO) performs the assessment according to the Guidelines on key considerations in issuing recommendations on the classification of active substances as regards their supply (prescription and non-prescription status) (forthcoming), reviews the national legal supply status of medicinal products for human use and issues recommendations on the classification of medicines and their supply conditions to health authorities of the Council of Europe member States parties to the Ph. Eur. Convention.
