The review of drugs, poisons and controlled substances legislation

Ms Rhonda Galbally, Chair of the Review of Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances, recently released a Draft Report for comment by interested parties prior to finalisation of the Report in October. This Final Report will be passed initially to the Australian Health Ministers' Conference, and upon consideration of the report by AHMAC it will be forwarded to the Council of Australian Governments. The recommendations of the Draft Report moot changes to remove anti-competitiveness measures where the benefits of the regulation can be achieved in other ways. The draft recommendations also cover measures to improve the efficiency of both the Commonwealth and States and Territories legislation and related administrative changes.

Labelling project

The new scheme for the regulation of the labelling of medicines is being developed in consultation with major stakeholders. The proposed scheme springs from the responses received from stakeholders to the discussion paper Effective by design <http://www.tga.gov.au/consult/2000/label.htm>, which set out several options for change.