A seminar on
04.06.2013
Held from June 4 to 6, 2013, and jointly organised by the IRACM (Institute of Research against Counterfeit Medicine) and the French embassy in the Republic of Croatia, the seminar "Fighting against medicinal product counterfeiting” was inaugurated today at the Hotel Dubrovnik, Zagreb. The participants were greeted by Mr. Ranko Ostojić, Minister of Internal Affairs, Mr. Rajko Ostojić, Minister of Health, Mrs. Mireille Ballestrazzi, President of Interpol, Mr. Emile Perez, Director of the International Cooperation Office of the French police, and Mr. Jacques Franquet, Director of IRACM-a, all in the presence of Michèle Boccoz, Ambassador of France to the Republic of Croatia.
The lecturers are Croatian, European and international experts from the World Health Organisation, Interpol, Europol, the World Customs Organisation and the Council of Europe. Employees of the Agency for medicinal products and medical devices (HALMED) actively participate in the event. Viola Macolić Šarinić, MD, PhD, the Head of HALMED, and Rajka Truban-Žulj, MPharm will introduce, on the second day of the event, the legal framework and current state of affairs in Croatia regarding the fight against counterfeit medicines.
The seminar spans many topics, such as pharmaceutical crime, the "Medicrime" convention, links between organised crime and the illegal marketing of counterfeit medicines, border interventions, illegal Internet medicinal product sales and others.
Police and customs officials are also attending the seminar, as well as representatives of health organisations from Croatia, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Albania.
You can view the event programme here, and detailed information on the fight against counterfeit medicines can be found on the web pages of IRACM and Interpol.
As part of the global campaign against medicine counterfeiting and raising the awareness of the health hazards of such medicines, which the Interpol actively enforces, the promotional song "Proud to Be” was recorded. You can listen to parts of it here and here.
