On December 26 and 25, 2013, respectively, China's
National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) promulgated
two circulars, Circular [2013] No. 49 (Circular 49) and Circular
[2013] No. 50 (Circular 50). Circular 49, issued by
NHFPC's Chinese Medicine Management Bureau, provides
comprehensive anti-corruption compliance requirements to be
observed by hospitals and physicians, and Circular 50 establishes a
"blacklist" system on pharmaceutical and medical
device providers.
Circular 49 re-emphasizes the importance of compliance with
anti-corruption rules and specifies "nine prohibitions"
applicable to all hospitals, medical institutions and their
employees in China. The fact that it was issued by the Chinese
Medicine Management Bureau, rather than NHFPC as a whole, ought not
necessarily be construed to limit its application to practitioners
of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) as Circular 49 is expressly
tied to Central Party policy.
The "nine prohibitions" are:
- linking physicians' individual income with income generated
from the sale of drugs or the provision of clinical
services. Medical institutions are prohibited from assigning
revenue targets to their departments and determining salaries or
bonuses of individual physicians based on income generated from the
sale of drugs or provision of medical examination services.
- giving commissions to individual physicians based on the value
of drugs prescribed or clinical services provided. Physicians
are also prohibited from receiving commissions for referring
patients for diagnostic tests, treatment,
physical examinations or the purchase of drugs.
- illegal fees. Medical institutions are prohibited from
charging additional fees or raising fee standards beyond what is
permissible under State drugs or clinical services policies.
- accepting improper donations. Individuals in medical
institutions are prohibited from accepting donations from
companies. Medical institutions are prohibited from accepting
donations under conditions that impede fair competition or
otherwise affect procurement decisions.
- participating in promotional activities or illegal health care
advertisements. Medical institutions and their personnel are
prohibited from participating in marketing and promotional
activities related to pharmaceutical products, food or health care
products. They are also barred from illegally disclosing the
identities or private information of patients.
- compiling statistical data for commercial
purposes. Medical institutions are prohibited from compiling
statistics on the quantities of drugs or medical devices purchased
by individual physicians for non-medical purposes. Medical
institutions are prohibited from providing conveniences to
marketing personnel of pharmaceutical or medical device companies
in calculating value-based commissions.
- private procurement of medical products. Personnel of medical
institutions are prohibited from procuring, selling or using
medical products through private channels.
- accepting commissions. Personnel of medical institutions
are prohibited from accepting commissions or kickbacks in any form
or otherwise participating in entertainment activities organized by
their business counterparties.
- accepting "red envelopes" from patients or their families and friends.
Any violation of the above "nine prohibitions" is
subject to disciplinary measures, including warning, demotion,
reduction in compensation, suspension or cancellation of
licenses. If a violation constitutes a crime, criminal
liability will be pursued.
Circular 49 regulates the conduct of hospitals and their
personnel. Compared to other rules and regulations, Circular
49 sets out more detailed guidelines on compliance conduct and
requires that hospitals and medical institutions abolish certain
existing practices which induce or constitute
corruption.
By contrast, Circular 50 regulates the conduct of
pharmaceutical/medical device companies and their respective
personnel by establishing a "blacklist" system that
supersedes an earlier 2007 regulation which had proven
ineffective.
Circular 50 provides that relevant health departments at the
provincial level shall establish a blacklist system to record
companies and their personnel who are found to have engaged in
bribery.
A company and/or its individuals shall be put on the blacklist
under any of the following circumstances:
- conviction by a court for a crime of bribery, or conviction
without criminal liability for minor bribery violations;
- engaging in a crime of bribery for which the procuratorate
decides not to pursue criminal charges;
- investigation and penalization by Party disciplinary
authorities based on the charge of bribery;
- penalization by a local finance bureau, administration for
industry and commerce (AIC) or food and drug administration (FDA)
based on the charge of bribery; or
- catch-all other circumstances provided under laws and regulations.
Simply put, if a drug or medical device company has engaged in
commercial bribery which amounts to a crime, the company (and/or
its relevant personnel) faces blacklisting even if criminal
liability is not pursued. Even if conduct does not constitute
the crime of bribery, a violation of administrative regulations for
which the enforcement agency decides to pursue administrative
liability will still subject to the company to the blacklist.
Instances in which criminal prosecution is not pursued, the Party
rather than a government body imposes penalties, or the vague
catch-all provision is applied can result in imposition of the
blacklist.
The consequences of being blacklisted is serious under Circular 50.
The blacklist is administered by relevant health departments at the
provincial level. Once a company is blacklisted, public
hospitals and other hospitals receiving State funding in the
province concerned will be barred from purchasing from the company
for two years thereafter. If a company is blacklisted two
or more times in a five-year period, all public hospitals and
other hospitals receiving State funding throughout the country will
be barred from purchasing from the
company.
Under Circular 50, a hearing is to be held before a company is
blacklisted. Different enforcement agencies, including the
Party's disciplinary agencies, local finance bureaus, AICs,
commerce bureaus, FDAs and other agencies, are required to
coordinate with each other in the investigation of commercial
bribery cases.
Responsible officials of medical institutions, drug procurement personnel and physicians who accept gifts or other benefits from vendors or their representatives also face sanctions.
Circular 50 takes effect on March 1, 2014. However, it is
unclear whether the circular will apply retroactively if the
sanctions are meted out for conduct occurring before such
date.
The promulgation of the two circulars during the New Year holiday
period indicates that China is determined to intensify its efforts
to crack down on corruption activities in the health care industry.
The two circulars constitute renewed government efforts to
systematically regulate the conduct of all players in the health
care industry after the central government's launch of a
nationwide campaign against commercial bribery in the health care
industry in August 2013 following the GSK bribery case.
For multinationals engaged in the health care business in China,
Circular 50 is expected to play a critical role in the
future. While the concept of a blacklist system was embodied
in some earlier regulations, such system was not strictly
implemented in the past.
With more detailed implementing procedures and conditions under
Circular 50 expected, it is apparent that the Chinese government
will enforce the system seriously in the future.
Compared to bribery investigations and charges which
constitute a crime, local AIC administrative investigations of
commercial bribery which does not rise to the level of a crime are
much more common in practice. Many multinationals have been
subject to such administrative investigations since the launch of
the nationwide campaign to crack down on bribery following the GSK
case.
If such investigation results in administrative penalties,
companies upon being penalized are at risk of being blacklisted
under Circular 50, which will result in serious disruption to their
businesses because of the ban on future procurement by public
hospitals, which account for the majority of hospitals in
China.
Unlike the United States and some other foreign jurisdictions
where a settlement with the law enforcement agencies to avoid
formal charges is possible, China at present does not have a formal
"settlement" process which further narrows the options
for multinationals being investigated. It is therefore vitally
important to tighten internal compliance policies and to craft
appropriate strategies when facing such investigations.
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