HEALTH : EXEC ADOPTSaCODE OF PRACTICE FOR CROSS-BORDER PRESCRIPTIONS.

• Position: Brief article

A medical prescription delivered in a member state will soon be recognised throughout the EU. The European Commission adopted, on 20 December 2012, an implementing directive on a minimum list of elements to be included in a medical prescription taken by a patient travelling from one EU country to another. These new provisions - which introduce a common set of descriptive elements to help identify prescribers, patients and prescribed products - are limited to cross-border prescriptions requested by the patient, not prescriptions used within a country (unless a member state so chooses). But they do not preclude further elements, in line with local practices, being added by prescribers.

Currently, the number of cross-border prescriptions is estimated to be low, around 2.3 million per year - which translates to between 0.02% and 0.04% of all prescriptions in the EU. But the Commission believes...