What are the relevant requirements for meetings when UK health professionals/other relevant decision makers are supported by pharmaceutical companies as delegates to a meeting outside the UK not organised by a pharmaceutical company?

Before sending any UK health professional/other relevant decision maker to an event/meeting held outside the UK, companies should ensure the event/meeting itself meets the requirements of Clause 10.1 and its supplementary information. As with any meeting, it should be the programme that attracts delegates and not the associated hospitality or venue.

Where a company provides support to an individual health professional or other relevant decision maker to attend an event/meeting there must be a written agreement in place setting out what has been agreed, including the categories of cost such as registration fees, accommodation and/or travel. The rationale for the decision to provide support to an individual health professional or other relevant decision maker to attend an event/meeting should be documented prior to the provision of the support.

All events/meetings which involve travel outside the UK must be certified in advance, as set out in Clause 8.2 and its supplementary information. This should be carried out as set out in Clause 8.1 or by an appropriately qualified person signatory (AQP signatory). When certifying arrangements for events/meetings which involve travel outside the UK, all the relevant documents and arrangements must be considered, including the venue, the reasons for using that venue, the intended audience, the anticipated cost and the nature of the hospitality and the like.

Clause 28 in relation to disclosure of transfers of value will also need to be followed.