Text tabled : A7-0148/2010

  Maria do Céu Patrão Neves (PPE), in writing. – (PT) This report is based on a Commission proposal aimed at preventing the introduction of falsified medicinal products to the supply chain, drawing attention to an issue that is of increasing concern to Europeans: the quality and safety of the medicinal products that they use. We should highlight the positive effect of this proposal, which promotes debate on a crucial subject, with the ultimate aim of combating falsified medicinal products. In fact, the falsification of medicinal products is a crime that deprives the patients of the medical treatment that they need and damages their health, possibly even causing death. The main objective of the directive, as the rapporteur rightly points out, should be the protection of public health. This objective must be reflected in the directive’s legal basis. It also seems essential to me to safeguard the distribution network for medicinal products, establishing clear and precise definitions, not only with regard to the scope of the directive’s application, but also with regard to the roles and responsibilities of the various parties involved in the supply chain: retailers, distributors, brokers. I voted in favour, as I believe it is essential to promote a legislative measure on this, in order to deal with this growing threat to health and to improve patient safety.