§ Mr. ChopeTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make it the policy of the Government to seek to ensure that blister packs of medicinal tablets imported into the UK must have the day of the week identified in English; and if he will make a statement. [153042]
§ Ms Stuart[holding answer 9 March 2001]: The requirements for the labelling of medicinal products are set out in Directive 92/27/EEC. Printing the days of the week on blister packs is not one of these requirements. In considering the proposals from importers for the labelling of imported products, the Medicines Control Agency (MCA) must ensure that these comply with the terms of the Directive. If they do, the MCA cannot prohibit the importation of the products nor insist that where the days of the week are present in a foreign language they should be translated.
It is therefore the policy of the MCA, where the days of the week are present on the blister strip in another language, to ask importers to provide a translation either on the labelling or within the patient information leaflet. In general the industry is co-operating with this policy. The MCA will continue to pursue it with individual importers on a case by case basis during the evaluation of their applications and with their trade associations.