Gov’t dedicated to stronger crackdown on counterfeit drugs

The Macau SAR government is dedicated to cracking down on illicit trade involving counterfeit drugs made from herbs, the First Standing Committee of the Legislative Assembly (AL) reiterated. Yesterday, the committee held the final meeting in the first phase of the discussion for the recently established law on the trade of herbal medicine. In the law, the herbal medicine is referred to as Chinese medicine.
The meeting focused on the provisions related to punishments.
The law proposes a maximum of five years’ imprisonment or a penalty equivalent to the maximum of 600 days, should any physical harm be caused to a person as a result of adulterated drugs, misbranded drugs or substituted drugs.
Importing, storing, exhibiting, illegally producing and supplying adulterated, misbranded or substituted herbal drugs are all subject to punishment whenever the activities result in physical harm.
The imprisonment term is reduced to a maximum of one year or a penalty equivalent to 120 days for unintentional violations.
Citing the government’s explanation, Ho Ion Sang, chairman of the First Standing Committee, said that the local authority regards existing laws as insufficient to deter individuals from activities linked to adulterated drugs, misbranded drugs or substituted drugs.
According to Ho, the local government hopes to become more effective at cracking down on counterfeit medicine trading by improving the law.
Members of the committee endorsed the government’s explanation.
In addition to criminal charges, the same law also defines 22 forms of conduct as administrative violations and prescribes a fine between 5,000 patacas to 700,000 patacas for them.
Article 51 of the law provides the definition for recidivism in regard to administrative violations.
According to article 51, recidivism is measured by administrative violations that have resulted in reconviction during a five-year period following the previous conviction.
The lawmakers want the government to explain whether recidivism means violating the same article repeatedly or violating different articles.
The government’s purpose of establishing this law is to enable the sustainable development of the herbal pharmaceuticals industry (traditional Chinese medicine) in Macau, and, at the same time, to make herbal medicine safer and healthier.
Local government believes that herbal medicine will be one of the sectors that can help Macau to diversify the economy.
As of yesterday, the First Standing Committee had four meetings discussing the law on herbal medicine.
After the Spring Festival Holiday, local government and AL legal advisors will continue editing the bill.