UK Industry Code Of Practice Report For 1993

The introduction in 1993 of a totally new procedure for operating the Association of the British Pharma-ceutical Industry's Code of Practice for the Pharmaceutical Industry, in particular major changes in the method of dealing with complaints, coincided with the introduction of a new, substantially rewritten edition of the Code, says the annual report of the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority. The year, it notes, was thus "one of change."

The new procedure involves decisions on complaints taken in the first instance by the Code of Practice Panel, previously made by the full Code of Practice Com-mittee. There had been some apprehension that companies might find the Panel's decisions difficult to accept, but this has not proved the case, and in general they have readily accepted the new system. This is not to say that these decisions "have always been found palatable by those affected by them, any more than the decisions of the Code of Practice Committee itself in the past or the decisions of the Code of Practice Appeal Board under the new system," it notes.

Under the new procedure, a complainant can now appeal against the Panel's rejection of a complaint. Previously, only a company found in breach of the Code could seek such a review. Also, the range of sanctions has been strengthened and now includes powers to require corrective statements to be published, and to require companies to submit to an audit of their procedures for complying with the Code.