Accommodation

Legislation: Not applicable.

MA Code of Conduct

Companies may provide accommodation to HCPs attending a company-sponsored / organised or independent educational event, or undertaking a consultancy, provided the accommodation is reasonable and appropriate to the time and duration of the event or consultancy, and the usual residence of the HCP.

No accommodation may be offered in places offering leisure and entertainment areas or activities and/or that are luxurious and/or extravagant.  In particular, the following are a non-exhaustive list of generally permitted accommodation:

• Congress hotels;
• Conference hotels;
• Educational facilities.

No specific rules, provided necessary regulatory approvals are obtained.

The limit of EUR250 per overnight stay, breakfast and local taxes included, applies.

An exception to this limit may apply for staff members and delegates of the Belgian Federal Public Service Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation who travel abroad on official assignment or serve on international committees pursuant to the relevant Belgian Ministerial Decree of 10 January 2023.

Statutory Laws

No specific rules. Any specifics must be assessed on the case-by-case basis.

INTERFARMA

Expenses with accommodation must be limited to the occasions inherent to the event itself and be directed exclusively to the invited professional and may be extended to the days immediately before and after the official schedule, if logistical and transport aspects justify such concession.

SINDUSFARMA

Members can sponsor or reimburse expenses with accommodations of the health area professionals in national and international events, during the period of the event, which can be extended to the days immediately prior to or after the official agenda, for logistics, locomotion and transportation purposes that will justify granting this sponsorship.

ACESSA

No specific rules. Any specifics must be assessed on the case-by-case basis.

Where permitted, accommodation ‎must be reasonable and must not ‎be extravagant.‎

Companies must avoid the use of excessively luxurious facilities.

Statutory Laws and Regulations

• No specific rules.

Codes of Conduct

Code of Ethics for Chinese Medical Doctors

• No specific rules.

RDPAC Code

• Member companies are allowed to cover room charges, including taxes. The hospitality should be appropriate and consistent with the period of the medical interaction program, i.e., any hospitality which apparently is unreasonably earlier or later than the program period cannot be provided or paid by member companies. (Article 7).

AdvaMed China Code

• Companies may provide for reasonable hotels and incidental expenses for HCP travel. Companies  are  encouraged  to  pay  for hotels  directly  where practical.  Reimbursement of travel-related expenses over RMB 500 should not be made in cash (Article IX).

RTVSS: It has no specific restriction or limitation. Nonetheless, pharmaceuticals financing payments for accommodation that exceed one (1) minimum monthly wage during a six-month period made to the same recipient must be reported.

The minimum monthly wage for 2023 is: COP1,160,000 or approximately USD245.

The six-month periods goes from January to June, and July to December of each year.

AFIDRO’S Code of Ethics: Hospitality sponsorship may only include registration, lodging and of the guest, which must be moderated and reasonable, and may only be offered for the duration of the scientific or professional activity.

ANDI's Chamber of Pharmaceutical Industry Code of Ethics and Transparency: It sets the same standard as AFIDRO’S Code of Ethics.

ANDI's Chamber of Medical Devices and Health Supplies Code of Ethics: Sponsorships to attend educational events organized by third parties, including payments for lodging, may not be provided directly to HCPs.

It is not allowed to hold business meetings in luxury hotels, resorts or paradisiacal locations.

The Ordinance: the Ordinance does not provide any specific provisions, however, general rules shall apply, namely; according to Article 19 (1 and 2) of the Ordinance, such professional and scientific conferences and lectures organized must be scientifically based and of an educational and professional nature. Moreover, content that does not fall within this definition shall be of an accompanying nature in relation to the main purpose and content of the conference or lecture respectively. Furthermore, organizers of the conferences and lectures are allowed to settle the expenses of the participants (venue, registration, travel, accommodation and meals) but only up to the amount of the actual value of the incurred expenses.

The Code: According to Article 10 (1) of the Code, all events organised or sponsored by a member company or by a third party on behalf of member company must be held in an appropriate venue that is conductive to the main purpose of the event. To this end, the following shall be deemed as an appropriate venue: (i) a separate, dedicated conference center, (ii) a hotel which has maximum 4 (four) stars and which is providing appropriate conference and business services prevailing over spa, wellness and/or other leisure offers, (iii) a hotel classified as "special standard hotel", which entails the following categories: Hotel Business (Cro. Poslovni), Hotel Meetings (Cro. Za sastanke) or Hotel Congress (Cro. Kongresni), and (iv) hotels in which no conferences are organized or held during July and August, if located on the Croatian coast or islands.

Finally, the Code stipulates in Article 11 lit. b(3) that member companies may offer accommodation only where it is necessary with regard to the length of the event (e.g. for one overnight stay the minimum duration of the event should be 5 hours) or the time of beginning and ending of the event (e.g. morning and evening events) as well as in cases where the distance between the place of residence of the participant and the venue of the event exceeds 50 km.

There are no specific restrictions or requirements regarding accommodation provided to HCPs, provided it is (i) reasonable in level; (ii) strictly limited and ancillary to the main purpose of the meeting; and (iii) not extended to persons other than HCPs.

Directive

No specific rules.

EFPIA

As a general rule, the hospitality provided must not exceed what those individuals would normally be prepared to pay for themselves.

IFPMA

No specific rules.

The Finnish Medicines Act or Degree

Hospitality at purely professional or scientific events must always be moderate and remain secondary in relation to the main scientific purpose of the event.

Code of Ethics issued by Pharma Industry Finland

The hospitality must be reasonable, suitable to the situation as well as secondary to the purpose of the event and not extend any further than what the typical guest to the event would be prepared to pay for a corresponding event.

The accommodation must be of reasonable value and strictly limited to the purpose of the event.

It must be provided for in a written contract between the company and the HCP.

Such contract must be submitted to the relevant authority/professional association for prior (i) declaration or (ii) authorization, depending on the amounts at stake (threshold: €150 per night).

Please note that luxury hotels and sumptuary expenses will likely be refused.

Key information (including the name of the company and the HCP, the date of the contract, the amount and type of benefit granted to the HCP) must be disclosed on the French public health transparency website.  

StGB

No specific rules. However, the general principles outlined above apply.

HWG

No specific rules as it depends on the individual case. However, the general rules and restrictions on providing financial inducements and other gifts to HCPs may apply.

UWG

No specific rules.

FSA Code of Conduct Healthcare Professionals

Accommodation provided to HCPs must be appropriate and of subordinate importance in the light of the job-related and science-oriented character of the event.

The German maximum standard for the venue is generally as follows:

• 4-star business hotels (no resorts, no extraordinary wellness areas and offers, no increased experience or recreational character).
• 5-star hotels are possible, if the event does not provide any substantial incentive or possibility to use the hotel's leisure activities or luxury facilities. Extravagances are not permitted. Furthermore, the accommodation provided should be strictly limited to the necessary duration / number of nights. For example, in case of a 1-day event, generally, no accommodation should be provided at all, unless this is necessary under the circumstances of the individual case.

Accommodation may not extend beyond two nights.

Accommodation may only be offered in the context of events lasting for at least four hours.

The hospitality costs for scientific events taking place outside Greece are set at the daily rate of EUR400 including VAT for accommodation and EUR150 including VAT for meals (including breakfast).

PBO: No specific rules. 

HKAPI Code of Practice: Lavish or extravagant hotels should be avoided. (para 5.2 (c))

Code of Conduct: No specific rules.

Lowest level accommodation in line with the purpose of the event.

No leisure or recreational activities may be offered along with the accommodation provided (e.g., wellness services may not be paid for).

Number of nights provided cannot be extended compared to the length of the event.

Four-star hotel maximum.

Pharmaceutical companies should not provide hospitality that:

• Exceeds a 12-hour time period prior to and immediately after the event;
• Has characteristics such as to overshadow the technical-scientific purposes of the event.

FCC and its guidelines

Accommodation provided to HCPs must be reasonable and appropriate in light of normal business practices and not extravagant under normal social conventions.

Hospitality shall be equally provided to national and foreign HCPS. 

Provisions in this sense remain ambiguous: accommodation provided shall be reasonable (at CETIFARMA's discretion in accordance to regular standards) and not exceed the cost that HCPs would be willing to cover under similar circumstances.

The nature of the event is decisive for the allowable maximum amount of hospitality. Distinguishable are a meeting (bijeenkomst) and manifestation (manifestatie): 

Meeting: The content of the event has been approved by a scientific association. Or the event is organized by a collaborative effort of HCP's, if those HCP's are entirely independent to choose the content and execution of the event and the objectivity of all acting speakers is checked by the organizers. The amount of (reimbursed) hospitality shall not exceed EUR 500 per meeting and EUR1500 per calendar year or the HCP bears 50% of the costs him/herself. 

Manifestation: For all events that are not Meetings, amount of (reimbursed) hospitality does not exceed EUR75 per Event and EUR375 per calendar year.

The main purpose of the meeting/ manifestation is the reason for the event. Therefore, the location must be subordinate in appearance and facilities. A luxurious location will not easily be seen as suitable for meeting with a scientific character. Including entertainment in the hospitality is thus also not allowed and there should be a justification for overnight stays.

Medicines New Zealand Code of Practice.

A reasonable level of accommodation expenses may be provided to delegates.

The number of nights’ accommodation should be determined by the meeting agenda.

Accommodation should not to be provided for single calendar day meetings unless the attendees travel schedule does not allow them to arrive by the start of the meeting or does not allow them to depart on the day the meeting concludes, or where doing so would create a health and safety risk.

The location of the accommodation should be within easy access of the meeting venue, should be appropriate to the occasion, and should conform to standards of ethics and good taste.

Norwegian Pharma Law

No specific rules.

LMI Industry rules

No specific rules except the general extravagant or luxurius test referred to under Event venue.

A five star hotel would typically not be appropriate. 

For hosted events, LMI member companies may cover travel and/ or overnight stays, if the professional programme is of a minimum duration of 5 hours per day excluding the day of travel.

Regulation on HCPs availability to receive gifts of 29 August 2005 no. 941:

Prohibition on receiving benefits that are likely to influence health personnel's official actions in an inappropriate way:

Healthcare personnel must not, either on their own behalf or on behalf of others, receive a gift, commission, service or other benefit that is suitable to influence the healthcare personnel's official actions in an inappropriate way, cf. the Healthcare Personnel Act section 9 first paragraph.

Under Pharmaceutical Law, organizations involved in development, manufacturing and (or) sales of pharmaceuticals; organizations that own the rights to pharmaceutical trade names; pharmaceutical wholesale trade organizations; pharmacies (including their representatives or other legal entities or individuals, acting on  behalf of such organizations) ("Organizations") are prohibited to perform the following actions in relation to healthcare professionals and heads of medical organizations:

• present gifts;
• pay money (with the exception of payment of fees under clinical trial agreements and fees connected with the performing by the healthcare professional of the pedagogical and (or) scientific activities);
• pay for entertainment, leisure, transportation to the leisure location;
• invite them to entertainment events financed by the Organization.

Four-star hotels only.  Exceptionally, accommodation at five-star hotels may be offered provided that the following requirements are met:

• The hotel is also the event venue or there was no availability for accommodation at the event venue;
• It is a business non-luxury hotel located in the metropolitan area;
• At least 200 HCPs participate in the event.

Five-star grand luxury hotels may never be allowed. This prohibition is extended to the use of its facilities (meeting rooms, restaurants, etc.) even if there is no accommodation.

Accommodation may only extended to the day after or before the event.

Accommodation may only be offered where the scientific content covers most of the time of the event and it covers 60% of each working day at a minimum, hospitality may not include the sponsorship or organization of entertainment/leisure activities.

Only HCPs and persons qualified to participate shall be provided  accommodation.

Consultants may have their accommodation expenses compensated in exchange for services provided (e.g., speaking in meetings or participating in clinical trials). Such compensations shall be reasonable and based on the fair market value of the accommodations.

ABPI Code

Companies are permitted to offer hospitality, including accommodation, provided the hospitality is limited to the main scientific objective of the event and offered only to HCPs (see Family members for further details).

There are no specific rules on accommodation, but it should be the programme that attracts delegates and not the associated hospitality or venue. The accommodation provided must be appropriate and not disproportionate to the occasion.

Bribery Act

Care should be taken to ensure that the nature of the accommodation is not such that it is so lavish as to appear to constitute an inducement or reward to attendees for the improper performance of a relevant function or activity.  Similar considerations to those set out above under the ABPI Code will apply to this analysis.

Federal Law & Implementing Regulations, & Government-Issued Guidance: The laws and regulations do not specifically enumerate or define "appropriate" versus "inappropriate" accommodations, but enforcement action and settlement history show that selection is likely to impact the government's perception of potential intent to induce or reward. In addition, the HHS-OIG Guidance states generally, with respect to entertainment, recreation, travel, meals, gifts, gratuities, and other business courtesies that the AKS should be considered and that "compliance with the PhRMA Code with respect to these arrangements should substantially reduce a manufacturer’s risk." 68 Fed. Reg. 23,721, 23,738 (May 5, 2003). See below. 

State Laws & Implementing Regulations:  Some state laws incorporate adherence to the PhRMA Code and/or AdvaMed Code as part of their requirements (see below).  Some states, like New Jersey, prohibit the payment or subsidy of lodging costs for non-faculty prescribers attending an educational or promotional event. 

Industry Codes of Conduct: Industry Codes provide guidance on accommodations in certain circumstances. For example, the PhRMA Code provides that compensation for HCP lodgings for consultant arrangements and speaker programs should be reasonable and based on fair market value. The AdvaMed Code states that accommodations for HCPs to attend Company-conducted programs or meetings must be modest and reasonable under the circumstances and encourages companies to establish controls on the appropriate level of lodging accommodations.