Regulation (EU) No 1027/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 amending Regulation (EC) No 726/2004 as regards pharmacovigilance Text with EEA relevance

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 114 and Article 168(4)(c) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,

After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (1),

After consulting the Committee of the Regions,

Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure (2),

Whereas:

(1) In order to ensure transparency on the surveillance of authorised medicinal products, the list of medicinal products subject to additional monitoring established by Regulation (EC) No 726/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 laying down Community procedures for the authorisation and supervision of medicinal products for human and veterinary use and establishing a European Medicines Agency (3), should systematically include medicinal products that are subject to certain post-authorisation safety conditions.

(2) In addition, voluntary action by the marketing authorisation holder should not lead to a situation where concerns relating to the risks or benefits of a medicinal product authorised in the Union are not properly addressed in all Member States. Therefore, the marketing authorisation holder should be obliged to inform the European Medicines Agency of the reasons for withdrawing or interrupting the placing on the market of a medicinal product, for requesting that a marketing authorisation be revoked, or for not renewing a marketing authorisation.

(3) Since the objective of this Regulation, namely to provide for specific rules on pharmacovigilance and improve the safety of medicinal products for human use authorised pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 726/2004, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective.

(4) Regulation (EC) No 726/2004 should therefore be amended accordingly,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Regulation (EC) No 726/2004 is hereby amended as follows:

(1) in Article 13(4), the second subparagraph is replaced by the following: ‘The marketing authorisation holder shall notify the Agency if the product ceases to be placed on the market of a Member State, either temporarily or permanently. Such notification shall, other than in exceptional circumstances, be made no less than two months before the interruption in the placing on the market of the product. The marketing authorisation holder shall inform the Agency of the reasons for such action in accordance with Article 14b.’;

(2) the following Article is inserted: ‘Article 14b

(3) in Article 20, paragraph 8 is replaced by the following: ‘8.   Where the procedure is initiated as a result of the evaluation of data relating to pharmacovigilance, the opinion of the Agency, in accordance with paragraph 2 of this Article, shall be adopted by the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use on the basis of a recommendation from the Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee and Article 107j(2) of Directive 2001/83/EC shall apply.’;

Article 2

This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

It shall apply from 5 June 2013 with the exception of Article 23(4), points (c) and (d) of the second subparagraph of Article 57(1) and point (b) of the second subparagraph of Article 57(2) of Regulation (EC) No 726/2004, as amended by this Regulation, which shall apply from 4 December 2012.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Strasbourg, 25 October 2012.

For the European Parliament The President M. SCHULZ

For the Council The President A. D. MAVROYIANNIS

(1) OJ C 181, 21.6.2012, p. 202.

(2) Position of the European Parliament of 11 September 2012 (not yet published in the Official Journal) and decision of the Council of 4 October 2012.

(3) OJ L 136, 30.4.2004, p. 1.