Promotional events

Legislation: Not applicable.

MA Code of Conduct

Companies cannot sponsor a HCP to attend a promotional event.

Companies may only sponsor a HCP to attend an educational event that is directly related to the HCP’s area of expertise.

All necessary regulatory approvals must be obtained in advance.

All events held by pharmaceutical companies must be relevant to pharmacy related topics and limited to the concerned professionals.

It is prohibited to sell free advertising samples of medicinal products. Free advertising samples must include the wording "Free medical sample" in indelible ink in Arabic and English. Distributors may only provide free samples to HCPs authorized to prescribe such products when requested. As for samples of injections, a record should be kept of the quantities handed out and used. It is prohibited to promote free samples of medicinal products to the public.

No payments shall be made to compensate HCPs for the time spent in attending the educational event.

Insofar as these events constitute scientific events, the above rules remain applicable. In addition, rules concerning the promotion of medicinal products, such as those contained in the Belgian medicines Act of 1964 and the Mdeon Code of Ethics may apply.

Occasional reasonable meals/refreshments may be offered in connection with promotional presentations to HCPs and other stakeholders attending the presentation.

For promotional activities, reasonable meals/refreshments can only be provided to clinic/medical staff who are appropriate to the primary business focus of the presentation or meeting. The amount should be reasonable, relative to the number of participants.

All the aforementioned rules apply to educational or promotional meetings or activities.

Statutory Laws and Regulations

• No specific rules.

Codes of Conduct

Code of Ethics for Chinese Medical Doctors

• No specific rules.

RDPAC Code

• A member company should not organize lucky draw in any promotional events. (Article 7).
• Providing or offering promotional aids such as sticky notes, mouse pads, and calendars, to HCPs in relation to the promotion of prescription-only medicines is prohibited.
• Promotional aids of minimal value (RMB 100 or less per item) and quantity may be provided or offered to HCPs solely for the promotion of over-the-counter medicines if relevant to the practice of the HCP. (Article 7).

AdvaMed China Code

• Companies may provide branded promotional items of minimal value (RMB 200 or less) to HCPs related to the HCP’s practice. Such items could include stationery items, USB drives, mouse pads, and other items bearing a company’s logo. (Article X).

As mentioned before, hospitality offered by pharmaceutical companies engaging or interacting with HCPs can be related to scientific, educational and professional purposes, i.e. to improve the level of knowledge of HCPs on matters related to health care; to improve the quality of life of patients; about the delivery of health services or the sustainability of the system; to provide scientific or educational information, and/or to provide information on medicines advocating for the improvement of health and patient care.

The Ordinance: please note that the Ordinance does not differentiate between such categories of events, meaning all the rules stated above shall apply.

The Code: the Code and the rules stated above apply to the "events", whereby the Code enacts a broad definition of an "event" – a promotional, scientific or professional meeting, congress, conference, symposium, smaller business meeting and other similar events.

No specific rules.

No specific rules.

The Finnish Medicines Act or Degree:

In the case of sales promotion events, hospitality must be moderate and secondary in relation to the purpose of the event, and it must not extend beyond health care personnel.

Code of Ethics issued by Pharma Industry Finland:

There are guidelines for good medical sales representation practice:

• Hospitality or other benefits offered must not jeopardise the public trust in the authorities, civil servants, or employees of public corporations.
• The events and the hospitality offered must comply with the general guidelines concerning the receiving of hospitality by civil servants as well as with the present Code.

To the extent the event is organized by an MAH in relation to its medicinal product, it will be subject to French provisions on pharmaceutical promotion (e.g. ANSM prior authorization required).

MAHs are required to file with EOF all promotional material, as the latter proceeds to ex post controls in case the material submitted is not in line with the pertinent legislative and regulatory provisions.

National Health Service and university HCPs cannot participate in commercial or promotional events, except for participating as speakers or chairpersons of such events, or as advisers in the context of advisory boards. However, self-employed HCPs can participate in such events held nationally.

According to section 14.12 of the SFEE Code of Ethics, in case pharmaceutical companies enter into contracts with market research companies, they have to agree a reasonable compensation to be given to the HCPs participating in the research, where permitted under the applicable legislation, taking also into consideration the working time spent by the HCPs, which ought to be limited to 2 hours.

The Code of Ethics of the Hellenic Association of Pharmaceutical Companies (SFEE's Code of Ethics) oversees the promotion of pharmaceutical products by its members (mostly multinational pharma companies) offers guiding provisions on regulatory alignment. These provisions are respected among Greek company standards, irrespectively of their affiliation to the SFEE, due to its influential and regulatory character.

For any scientific events organised in Greece by foreign entities (with or without collaboration with a Greek entity), at least 50% of the budget and 50% of the speakers’ expenses must be covered by the foreign entity.  The total sponsorship to the Greek entity may not exceed EUR30,000 per company/sponsor.

It is worth noting that according to article 122 of the Ministerial Decision 32221/2013, an advertisement addressed to the public concerning OTC medicines may not include endorsements by scientists, HCPs or other reputable individuals, who irrespective of their professional qualifications may, by virtue of their reputation, promote the consumption of medicinal products.

PBO: No specific rules.

HKAPI Code of Practice: Applies to promotional events. Thus the above rules apply to promotional events in the same way. (para 5.1)

There are no specific rules applicable only to promotional events.

The Medical Council Guide prevents registered medical practitioners accepting gifts (including hospitality) from pharmaceutical, medical devices or other commercial enterprises.  Medical practitioners must not let financial considerations influence or appear to influence management of patients.

Under the 2007 Regulations, a company must not supply, offer, or promise gifts, pecuniary advantages or benefits in kind to persons qualified to prescribe or supply in relation to the promotion/ marketing of prescription medicines.

Meetings for promotional activities shall be exclusively addressed to HCPs researchers or experts and shall not be presented as intended for "academic" purposes.

Enterprises shall verify compliance with local requirements applicable to products subject matter of the promotion, including sponsoring provisions.

Medicines New Zealand Code of Practice

• The primary objective of any interaction with HCPs must be to improve patient care by increasing medical knowledge and enhancing the quality of use of medicines.
• Relationships with HCPs must be able to withstand public and professional scrutiny.
• No benefits may be provided on the condition that HCPs recommend or prescribe a prescription medicine.
• Interactions between companies and HCPs must not include entertainment or recreational activities. 

Royal Australasian College of Physicians Guidelines

• In general, industry support of meetings should be indirect (mediated through independent organisers) and appropriately disclosed to the relevant organisations and attendees.
• However, current practice is for HCPs to reject industry entertainment invitations.
• 'Entertainment' is the provision by industry of access to cultural, sporting or artistic events, with no purported associated professional content.
• 'Hospitality' is the provision of food and beverages by industry in association with a meeting or event covering topics of relevance to professionals.
• HCPs cannot participate in situations that could be seen as having an influence on their clinical judgement. Even when the hospitality offered is of minimal value, acceptance and participation by HCPs can be considered a conflict of an HCP's professional and ethical responsibilities.

Nursing Council of New Zealand Code of conduct for Nurses

• Accepting gifts, favours or hospitality outside of the care context (such as harbour cruises or sporting events) may compromise professional relationships and should not be accepted.

No specific rules.

Generally, one cannot promote pharmaceutical products unless the products are registered with the Ministry of Public Health (to the extent prescribed by law), entity conducting the promotion holds a valid marketing authorisation and is in receipt of the Ministry of Public Health's approval to conduct the promotional event / activity.

Act on medical products

No specific rules. 

AIFP Code of Conduct

Promotion must be accurate, balanced, fair, objective and sufficiently complete to enable the recipient to form his or her own opinion of the therapeutic value of the medicinal product concerned. It should be based on an up-to-date evaluation of all relevant evidence and reflect that evidence clearly. It must not mislead by distortion, exaggeration, undue emphasis, omission or in any other way. 

ADL Code of Ethics

Promotion must be accurate, balanced, fair, objective and sufficiently complete to enable the recipient to form his or her own opinion of the therapeutic value of the medicinal product concerned. It should be based on an up-to-date evaluation of all relevant evidence and reflect that evidence clearly. It must not mislead by distortion, exaggeration, undue emphasis, omission or in any other way. 

GENAS Code of Ethics

Advertising must be accurate, balanced, honest, objective and sufficiently complete to enable its recipient to form his or her own opinion on the therapeutic value of the medicinal product which is the subject to advertisements. It should be based on an up-to-date evaluation of all relevant evidence and clearly reflect them. It must not mislead, exaggerate, improperly emphasize, by omission or in any other way. The ad for the medicine must contain information on the medicinal product.

The MAH shall ensure that promotional advertisements of the Medical Product comply with the conditions and rules approved by MOHAP.

There are no specific rules for promotional events organised by or on behalf of MAH. All of the above listed requirements also apply to promotional events.