Ethics and Compliance | New ethical controls coming for interactions with healthcare professionals in France
Published on 24th Aug 2020
New rules coming into force on 1 October 2020 will give professional associations the power to block contracts or hospitality agreements between Life Sciences Industries and Healthcare Professionals (HCPs).
The rules are being brought in as part of changes to the so called “Anti-Gift” Law which governs in France between the Life Sciences Industries and HCPs. The Anti Gift Law has been significantly amended in January 2017 with the introduction of a new ethical control procedure with the HCPs' Professional Associations. This new control procedure will enter into force as of 1 October 2020 (pursuant to a Decree of June 2020). It applies to contracts (such as investigator, consultant or speaker agreements) and hospitality (invitations of HCPs to medical events where the industry covers registration, travel, meals and hotel accommodation costs).
Under the new regime, contracts and hospitality are still subject to a prior examination by the HCPs’ Professional Associations. However, the latter no longer issue non-binding opinions (positive or negative opinions regarding compliance of the contract or hospitality with the rules provided for by the Anti-Gift Law and other ethical principles), beyond certain thresholds, the HCPs’ Professional Associations now have the power to authorise (or refuse) the performance of a contract or the implementation of a project for hospitality.
For more detail, read our full article here.
