Promotional events

Legislation: Not applicable.

MA Code of Conduct

Prescription pharmaceutical companies may only sponsor a HCP to attend an educational event that is directly related to the HCP's area of expertise.

Prescription pharmaceutical companies cannot sponsor a HCP to attend a promotional event.

All necessary regulatory approvals must be obtained in advance.

All events held by pharmaceutical companies must be relevant to pharmacy related topics and limited to the concerned professionals.

It is prohibited to sell free advertising samples of medicinal products. Free advertising samples must include the wording "Free medical sample" in indelible ink in Arabic and English. Distributors may only provide free samples to HCPs authorized to prescribe such products when requested. As for samples of injections, a record should be kept of the quantities handed out and used. It is prohibited to promote free samples of medicinal products to the public.

No payments shall be made to compensate HCPs for the time spent in attending the educational event.

Depending on the rules being considered, promotional events could either:

• be assimilated to independent scientific events, meaning that the above-mentioned rules would apply as well; or
• fall outside the scope of such rules, meaning that they do not provide any information regarding promotional events.

Occasional reasonable meals / refreshments may be offered in connection with promotional presentations to HCPs and other stakeholders attending the presentation. 

For promotional activities, reasonable meals / refreshments can only be provided to clinic / medical staff who are appropriate to the primary business focus of the presentation or meeting. The amount should be reasonable, relative to the number of participants.

Statutory Laws and Regulations

No specific rules.

Codes of Conduct

Code of Ethics for Chinese Medical Doctors

No specific rules.

RDPAC Code

A member company should not organize lucky draw in any promotional events (Article 7).

Providing or offering promotional aids such as sticky notes, mouse pads, and calendars, to HCPs in relation to the promotion of prescription-only medicines is prohibited.

Promotional aids of minimal value (RMB 100 or less per item) and quantity may be provided or offered to HCPs solely for the promotion of over-the-counter medicines if relevant to the practice of the HCP (Article 7).

AdvaMed China Code

Companies may provide branded promotional items of minimal value (RMB 200 or less) to HCPs related to the HCP’s practice. Such items could include stationery items, USB drives, mouse pads, and other items bearing a company’s logo (Article X).

The Ordinance: please note that the Ordinance does not differentiate between such categories of events, meaning all the rules stated above shall apply.

The Code: the Code and the rules stated above apply to the "events", whereby the Code enacts a broad definition of an "event" – a promotional, scientific or professional meeting, congress, conference, symposium, smaller business meeting and other similar events.

No specific rules.

No specific rules.

The Finnish Medicines Act or Degree 

In the case of sales promotion events, hospitality must be moderate and secondary in relation to the purpose of the event, and it must not extend beyond health care personnel. 

Code of Ethics issued by Pharma Industry Finland 

There are guidelines for good medical sales representation practice: 

• Hospitality or other benefits offered must not jeopardise the public trust in the authorities, civil servants or employees of public corporations.
• The events and the hospitality offered must comply with the general guidelines concerning the receiving of hospitality by civil servants as well as with the present Code.

The Prevention of Bribery Ordinance

No specific rules.

HKAPI Code of Practice

The HKAPI Code of Practice applies to promotional events. Thus the above rules apply to promotional events in the same way (para 5.1). There are no specific rules applicable only to promotional events. 

Code of Conduct

It is appropriate for a doctor to take part in bona fide health education activities, such as lectures and publications. However, he must not exploit such activities for promotion of his practice or to canvass for patients (para 6.1).

The Medical Council Guide prevents  registered medical practitioners accepting gifts (including hospitality) from pharmaceutical, medical devices or other commercial enterprises.  Medical practitioners must not let financial considerations influence or appear to influence management of patients.

Under the 2007 Regulations, a company must not supply, offer or promise gifts, pecuniary advantages or benefits in kind to persons qualified to prescribe or supply in relation to the promotion/ marketing of prescription medicines.

Meetings for promotional activities shall be exclusively addressed to HCPs researchers or experts and shall not be presented as intended for "academic" purposes.

Enterprises shall verify compliance with local requirements applicable to products subject matter of the promotion, including sponsoring provisions.

Medicines New Zealand Code of Practice

• The primary objective of any interaction with HCPs must be to improve patient care by increasing medical knowledge and enhancing the quality of use of medicines.
• Relationships with HCPs must be able to withstand public and professional scrutiny.
• No benefits may be provided on the condition that HCPs recommend or prescribe a prescription medicine.
• Interactions between companies and HCPs must not include entertainment or recreational activities. 

Royal Australian College of Physicians Guidelines

• In general, industry support of meetings should be indirect (mediated through independent organisers) and appropriately disclosed to the relevant organisations and attendees.
• However, current practice is for HCPs to reject industry entertainment invitations.
• 'Entertainment' is the provision by industry of access to cultural, sporting or artistic events, with no purported associated professional content.
• 'Hospitality' is the provision of food and beverages by industry in association with a meeting or event covering topics of relevance to professionals.
• HCPs cannot participate in situations that could be seen as having an influence on their clinical judgement. Even when the hospitality offered is of minimal value, acceptance and participation by HCPs can be considered a conflict of an HCP's professional and ethical responsibilities.

Nursing Council

• Accepting gifts, favours or hospitality outside of the care context (such as harbour cruises or sporting events) may compromise professional relationships and should not be accepted.

No specific rules.

Generally, one cannot promote pharmaceutical products unless the products are registered with the Ministry of Public Health (to the extent prescribed by law), entity conducting the promotion holds a valid marketing authorisation and is in receipt of the Ministry of Public Health's approval to conduct the promotional event / activity.

Act on medical products

No specific rules. 

AIFP Code of Conduct

Promotion must be accurate, balanced, fair, objective and sufficiently complete to enable the recipient to form his or her own opinion of the therapeutic value of the medicinal product concerned. It should be based on an up-to-date evaluation of all relevant evidence and reflect that evidence clearly. It must not mislead by distortion, exaggeration, undue emphasis, omission or in any other way. 

ADL Code of Ethics

Promotion must be accurate, balanced, fair, objective and sufficiently complete to enable the recipient to form his or her own opinion of the therapeutic value of the medicinal product concerned. It should be based on an up-to-date evaluation of all relevant evidence and reflect that evidence clearly. It must not mislead by distortion, exaggeration, undue emphasis, omission or in any other way. 

GENAS Code of Ethics

Advertising must be accurate, balanced, honest, objective and sufficiently complete to enable its recipient to form his or her own opinion on the therapeutic value of the medicinal product which is the subject to advertisements. It should be based on an up-to-date evaluation of all relevant evidence and clearly reflect them. It must not mislead, exaggerate, improperly emphasize, by omission or in any other way. The ad for the medicine must contain information on the medicinal product.

The MAH shall ensure that promotional advertisements of the Medical Product comply with the conditions and rules approved by MOHAP.

There are no specific rules for promotional events organised by or on behalf of MAH. All of the above listed requirements also apply to promotional events.