What do you need to know?
Advertising of medicinal products means any form of informative offer, prospecting or inducement aimed at promoting the prescription, dispensing, sale or use of medicinal products.
The outcome of this reporting process does not in any case entail authorisation but rather a record of compliance with the obligation to make the notification and the date on which it was made. If the supervisory body finds that what has been reported does not meet the requirements, it notifies the company concerned so that it can make the appropriate changes.
Advertising of medicinal products includes:
- Advertising of medicinal products to the public.
- Advertising of medicinal products to persons qualified to prescribe or dispense medicinal products.
- Medical visits by medical sales representatives or laboratory information officers to persons qualified to prescribe or supply medicinal products.
- Sponsorship of scientific congresses attended by persons qualified to prescribe or supply medicinal products, and in particular the payment of travel and accommodation expenses for such congresses.
- Sponsorship of promotional meetings attended by persons qualified to prescribe or supply medicinal products.
- The provision of free samples of medicinal products.
This procedure can only be done online. Any documents you submit through another channel will not be processed and will not be considered for the purposes of the date of submission.
When you send the form, you have to identify yourself with a digital certificate or idCAT Mobile if you are the owner of the company, or with the digital certificate of representation if you are its representative.
Remember that the company name must include the name of the pharmaceutical laboratory in charge of the advertising.
To correctly fill out the forms, you have to save them as a PDF on your computer with the name you choose and open them with an updated version of Adobe Reader (version 9.1 or more recent). If in doubt, please see the Adobe Reader setup instructions and the instructions for downloading PDF forms with your browser. Remember the folder where you have saved the files.
In case of questions, check the security recommendations available on “Tràmits gencat” or call the 012 helpline (calls from Catalonia), 93 214 21 24 (calls from outside Catalonia), or 00 34 93 214 21 24 (calls from abroad).
Authority responsible
Individuals and legal entities based in Catalonia that advertise medicinal products for human use.
These organisations are required to use electronic means of communication with government agencies to carry out any administrative procedure under Article 14.2 of Act 39/2015 of 1 October (BOE no. 236 of 2 October 2015) and Order PDA/20/2019 of 14 February (DOGC no. 7814, of 20 February).
Pharmaceutical laboratories holding the marketing authorisation for a medicinal product must notify the health authority responsible for advertising supervision of all relevant advertising material intended for persons qualified to prescribe or dispense medicinal products at the time of publication or distribution
- Imatge del material comunicat
- Informe del Servei Científic
Documents to be attached to the notification:
- Picture of the material reported
- Scientific Service report form
There are no fees associated
Complementary informationThere are no fees associated with this procedure.
All materials containing advertisements for medicinal products which are addressed to persons qualified to prescribe or dispense medicinal products or to podiatry and dentistry professionals, of whatever kind (paper, digital or electronic) and whether they include physician-targeted or reminder advertising, has to be reported.
Steps to follow
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1
Step one
Report advertising materials
This procedure can only be done online. Any documents you submit through another channel will not be processed and will not be considered for the purposes of the date of submission.
When you send the form, you have to identify yourself with a digital certificate or idCAT Mobile if you are the owner of the company, or with the digital certificate of representation if you are its representative.
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2
Step two
Check the status of the procedure
You can check the status of the procedure:
You can check the status of the procedure:
- In the Canal Empresa (with idCAT Mòbil and/or digital certificate)
- In Status of My Procedures (Canal Empresa) (with the procedure identifier and your DNI/NIF/NIE)
- In Status of My Procedures (Tràmits Gencat) (with the procedure identifier and your DNI/NIF/NIE)
- By calling 012 (with the procedure identifier and your DNI/NIF/NIE)
Procedure identifier
You will need to have the procedure identifier (procedure ID) which is a five-digit alphanumeric code that is generated when you submit your application and is unique.
You can use this code to check the history of the procedure.
For more information, please see the section on How to log in and track my procedures and idCAT Mobile in the Support for processing procedures section at Tràmits Gencat website.
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3
Step three
Get the reply from the agency
The agency does not reply to the notification of advertising material. Under Royal Decree 1416/1994, laboratories advertising medicinal products are required to report such advertising, but once they [...]
The agency does not reply to the notification of advertising material. Under Royal Decree 1416/1994, laboratories advertising medicinal products are required to report such advertising, but once they have met this requirement they do not need to wait for authorisation to use it.
Following the notification, the competent health authority may take any measures needed to confirm the veracity of the information supplied and also compliance with the specific requirements for the performance of operations under legislation applicable to the notification.