On 21 March 2012, the independent Compliance Panel of the European medical technology industry association Eucomed ("Eucomed") announced the launch of its EthicalMedtech platform for its conference vetting system ("EthicalMedtech") to go live. The newly established independent EthicalMedtech system reviews and approves the compliance of third-party organized European educational conferences with the Eucomed Code of Ethical Business Practice ("Code").
According to Section III of the Code, Eucomed members may support third party-organized bona fide independent, education, scientific or policy-making conferences promoting scientific knowledge and medical advancement for healthcare professionals.
The new platform – the pilot phase of which is expected to last for around 6 months – serves the following major goals:
- centralizing and simplifying the decision-making system for
Eucomed members; and
" harmonizing the interpretation of the Code throughout Europe so as to achieve greater transparency and consistency within the sector. - Consequently, should a stakeholder (e.g. a Eucomed member or a congress organiser) intend to sponsor or organise a relevant conference, it can submit the conference via the platform for assessment by the independent Compliance Officer. The deadline for the submission is no later than 90 days before the start of the conference. An expedited procedure is available on an exceptional basis and at the discretion of the Eucomed Compliance Panel. However, it is recommended that submissions be made as early as possible.
The assessments will be made by the independent Eucomed Compliance Officer who manages the procedure, assesses conferences and reports to the likewise independent Eucomed Compliance Panel.
As EthicalMedtech is currently in a pilot phase, the assessment rulings and the decisions by the Eucomed Compliance Officer are recommendations only and are not binding upon Eucomed members. Once the pilot phase is completed, the assessments will be binding on Eucomed members.
For more information please click here to see the
press release.
The pilot EthicalMedtech platform is available here.
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The original publication date for this article was 22/03/2012.
