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22.1
22.1 Companies must not provide hospitality to members of the health professions and other relevant decision makers except in association with scientific meetings, promotional meetings, scientific congresses and other such meetings, and training. Meetings must be held in appropriate venues conducive to the main purpose of the event. Hospitality must be strictly limited to the main purpose of the event and must be secondary to the purpose of the meeting ie subsistence only. The level of subsistence offered must be appropriate and not out of proportion to the occasion. The costs involved must not exceed that level which the recipients would normally adopt when paying for themselves. It must not extend beyond members of the health professions or other relevant decision makers.
The purpose of every meeting must be educational. The definition of promotion is very broad and far reaching and as such if a company organised meeting discussed its medicines the company should consider how this would not be defined as promotion under the Code. The supplementary information to Clause 22.1 Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Meetings and Courses is also relevant.
