Fines for online stores
Roszdravnadzor: couriers involved in trafficking of unregistered medicinal products sold by online stores have been fined for the first time on the territory of the Russian Federation.
The Territorial Department of the Federal Service for Surveillance in Healthcare for Moscow and the Moscow Region implemented measures aimed at prevention of circulation of counterfeit medicinal products sold over the Internet within the framework of interdepartmental interaction with the Department of Economic Security and Anti-Corruption Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Istrinsky district of the Moscow region.
The joint operation aimed at seizing illegal products was organized in a new, effective format: the specialists of the Territorial Department of the Roszdravnadzor carried out expert evaluations of the medicinal products ordered over the Internet and delivered to the place of residence by a courier engaged in delivery of medicinal products immediately after the purchase, which enabled the operatives of the Department of Economic Security and Anti-Corruption Department for the Moscow Region to promptly adopt procedural decisions with respect to the couriers and organizers of illegal sale as well as to determine the places of storage of counterfeit, falsified and unregistered medicinal products.
As part of the operational-search activities, the operatives organized a controlled buy of the OTESALY BTXA and NEURONOX medicinal products (used in cosmetology), information on the registration of which on the territory of the Russian Federation is absent from the State Register of Medicinal Products.
With allowance for the identified facts, the Territorial Department of the Roszdravnadzor for Moscow and the Moscow Region initiated proceedings in relation to an alleged administrative offence under Part 1 of Article 6. 33 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation (“Trafficking of falsified, counterfeit, substandard, and unregistered medicinal products, medical devices, and falsified biologically active additives”) with respect to the relevant individuals.
By the decision of the justice of the peace of judicial sector No. 63 of the Istrinsky Judicial District of the Moscow Region, the citizens engaged in the sale of the counterfeit medicinal products were brought to administrative responsibility (under part 1 of Article 6.33 of the Code of Administrative Offences) in the form of a fine in the amount of thirty-five thousand roubles.
Note from Roszdravnadzor: The Federal Service for Surveillance in Healthcare hereby informs that counterfeit medicinal products pose a risk to the health of citizens, as they may not contain any pharmaceutical substance or contain other pharmacologically active substances. According to the statistics, over 60% of medicinal products purchased over the Internet using unofficial websites of manufacturers or suppliers represent counterfeit products. The use of such drugs creates a risk of harm to the health of citizens. The sale of drugs over the Internet is prohibited on the territory of the Russian Federation. The Roszdravnadzor urges the citizens to be vigilant about their health and refrain from using such services.
In addition, the Roszdravnadzor reminds the citizens that manufacture and distribution of unregistered, falsified, and counterfeit medicinal products on the territory of the Russian Federation entails serious sanctions, up to and including criminal conviction.