Clause 10 Events/Meetings and Hospitality
10.1
(22.1) Pharmaceutical companies may hold, sponsor or support delegates to attend a wide range of events/meetings, providing such events/meetings meet the requirements of the Code. This may include support of health professionals not known to the company via a healthcare organisation by way of registration fees, accommodation and travel.
Companies must not provide hospitality to health professionals, other relevant decision makers etc except in association with scientific meetings, promotional meetings, scientific congresses and other such meetings and training.
The content and arrangements for any event or meeting must also, to the extent relevant to the particular event/meeting, fulfil the following criteria:
• the event/meeting must have a clear educational content; it should be the programme that attracts delegates to attend and not the associated hospitality or venue
• the content must be appropriate and relevant to attendees
• the venue must be appropriate and conducive to the main purpose of the event/meeting; lavish, extravagant or deluxe venues must not be used
• any associated subsistence (food and drink), accommodation and travel costs must be strictly limited to the main purpose of the event/meeting, must be of secondary consideration and must be appropriate and not out of proportion to the occasion (see Clause 10.7)
• companies must not sponsor, support or organise entertainment (such as sporting or leisure activities, etc)
• any hospitality provided must not extend to an accompanying person unless that person qualifies as a proper delegate or participant at the meeting in their own right. In exceptional cases of established clear health needs of the delegate (eg disability or injury), similar hospitality may be provided for an accompanying person.
- Clause 10.1 (22.1) Events/Meetings and Hospitality
- Clause 10.1 (22.1) Types of Events/Meetings
- Clause 10.1 (22.1) Events/Meetings held Outside the UK
- Clause 10.1 (22.1) Events/Meetings Organised by Affiliates Outside the UK
- Clause 10.1 (22.1) Certification and Examination of Events/Meetings
- Clause 10.1 (22.1) Health Professionals’ Standards of Conduct
- Clause 10.1 (22.1) Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Meetings and Courses
Please check the date of the Code that applies to the Case that you are looking at. The date of the complaint may vary from the activity/material alleged to have been in breach.
- Can sport and leisure venues be used for meetings?
- What disciplines do the Health Professionals Codes of Conduct cover
- What does the Code state about meeting venues?
- What needs to be certified or examined with respect to arrangements for events/meetings when contracted services are delivered?
- Why is there no separate clause for medical education? Can a pharmaceutical company run a medical educational meeting which is wholly non-promotional, even if a company medicine is mentioned?
10.2
(New Clause, previously 22.1 SI) No payment may be offered or paid to individuals to compensate merely for the time spent in attending events/meetings.
10.3
(New Clause and part of Clause 27.3) Sponsorship of patient organisations (including individuals representing patient organisations to attend events/meetings) must have a written agreement in place setting out what has been agreed including, where possible, a breakdown of agreed costs. (The requirements for the written agreement are set out in Clause 27.2.)
10.4
(18.3) Attendees of company organised events/meetings may be provided with inexpensive pens, pencils and notepads when required for use at those events/meetings. They must not bear the name of any medicine or any information about medicines but may bear the name of the company providing them. No individual attendee should receive more than one pen or pencil or one notepad.
The total cost to the donor company of all such items provided to an individual attending an event/meeting must not exceed £6, excluding VAT. The perceived value to the recipient must be similar.
10.5
(18.3 SI) Pens/pencils and notepads provided in conference bags at independently organised meetings must not include the name of the donor company, the name of any medicine or any information about medicines.
The total cost to the donor company of all such items provided to an individual attending an event/meeting must not exceed £6, excluding VAT. The perceived value to the recipient must be similar.
Pens/pencils and notepads must not be given out from exhibition stands.
10.6
(18.1si) Quizzes which are intended to gauge attendees’ understanding of the subject matter of a meeting are acceptable provided that such quizzes are non-promotional and genuine tests of skill or knowledge; they must respect the professional standing or otherwise of the audience and no prizes can be offered. To be acceptable, a quiz must form part of the meeting’s formal proceedings. Quizzes must not be conducted from or on exhibition stands.
The use of competitions, quizzes and suchlike are unacceptable methods of promotion.
Please check the date of the Code that applies to the Case that you are looking at. The date of the complaint may vary from the activity/material alleged to have been in breach.
10.7
(22.2) The cost of any subsistence (food and drink) provided must not exceed £75 per person, excluding VAT and gratuities.
10.8
(22.3) Payments may not be made to doctors, groups of doctors, or to other prescribers, either directly or indirectly, for rental for rooms to be used for events/meetings.
10.9
(22.4) When events/meetings are sponsored by pharmaceutical companies, that fact must be disclosed in all the material relating to the events/meetings and in any published proceedings. The declaration of sponsorship must be sufficiently prominent to ensure that readers are aware of it at the outset.
Please check the date of the Code that applies to the Case that you are looking at. The date of the complaint may vary from the activity/material alleged to have been in breach.
10.10
(22.5) Companies must publicly disclose annually financial details of support of UK health professionals and other relevant decision makers in relation to attendance at events/meetings.
10.11
(New Clause and part of Clause 24.2) Companies must publicly disclose annually financial details for contributions to costs related to events/meetings (sponsorship) paid to healthcare organisations, patient organisations or organisations managing an event/meeting on their behalf. This may include support of health professionals not known to the company via the healthcare organisation by way of registration fees, accommodation and travel.
Contracts for sponsorship of individuals representing patient organisations to attend events/meetings should be made with the patient organisation and disclosed against the patient organisation as set out in Clause 29.