What are the relevant requirements for meetings when UK health professionals/other relevant decision makers attend a company organised meeting outside the UK as delegates?

Before sending any UK health professional/other relevant decision maker to a company organised event/meeting outside the UK, companies should ensure that 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.

Clause 8.2 and its supplementary information is relevant - all events/meetings involving travel outside the UK, unless the company’s only involvement is to support a speaker to present at the meeting, must be certified in advance as set out in Clause 8.1 or by an appropriately qualified person (AQP) signatory. That person does not need to be either a registered medical practitioner or a pharmacist registered in the UK. 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 where relevant.