The Commission calls on platforms to verify sellers and quickly remove listings for counterfeit medicines

The European Commission is calling for stricter enforcement of existing rules to prevent the online sale and promotion of counterfeit or illegally marketed medicines, including through major digital platforms. Olivér Várhelyi, the European Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare, told the European Parliament that the response must combine securing the legal supply chain with the verification of traders, removal of illegal offers, customs controls, criminal cooperation and informing patients.

In brief

The Commission says that, under the Digital Services Act, online platforms must verify traders’ identities, respond to notifications from authorities and remove illegal content.

Prescription medicines from the legal supply chain must include safety features that allow their authenticity to be verified and tampering with the packaging to be detected.

Consumers can identify authorized online pharmacies and traders through the common European logo for online pharmacies, but the Commission says that this mechanism cannot replace law enforcement.

A product presented as treating or preventing a disease cannot avoid pharmaceutical rules simply by being marketed as a food supplement.

The Commission is calling for closer cooperation between health authorities, the police and the judiciary, customs, platforms and European institutions, because the online sale of counterfeit products frequently operates across borders.

Várhelyi presented the issue as one of patient safety, not merely brand protection or e-commerce. A counterfeit medicine may contain a substance different from the one declared, an incorrect dose, or no active ingredient at all, while illegal websites and traders may imitate the appearance of legitimate channels. The growth of online shopping makes it more difficult for ordinary users to recognize the difference between an authorized pharmacy, an unregulated trader and a fraudulent offer.

The European system first seeks to intervene in the legal medicines circuit. The Commission recalled that European rules on falsified medicines require safety features for prescription medicines, including a unique identifier and a device allowing packaging tampering to be detected. The network connecting manufacturers, distributors and pharmacies makes it possible to verify the authenticity of a package before it reaches the patient.

The situation is different when the product enters the EU or reaches consumers through a channel that is not part of the authorized pharmaceutical supply chain. In this area, the Commission links health policy with digital rules, customs controls and police and judicial cooperation. The medicine may be presented on a website imitating a pharmacy, promoted through an advertisement on a platform or sold by a trader operating from another jurisdiction, making it difficult for a single national authority to intervene.

For legal online pharmacies, a European tool intended for consumers already exists. The common EU logo makes it possible to identify authorized traders and should direct users to the relevant national register, allowing them to verify whether the website from which they intend to buy operates legally. The Commission stressed, however, that logos and labels are not sufficient when organized networks or traders that rapidly change their identities and sales channels are behind the offers.

This is where the Digital Services Act comes in. In his response to Members of the European Parliament, Várhelyi said that the responsibility of large platforms is not limited to passively hosting offers. For the sale and advertising of illegal medicinal products, platforms must verify traders’ identities, respond promptly when they receive notifications from the competent authorities and remove content that is illegal.

The debate in Parliament also focused on online advertising. Several Members of the European Parliament argued that platforms, search engines and social networks must not become channels through which illegal traders buy visibility for products presented as medicines or therapeutic solutions. The issue is therefore not limited to the moment of the transaction, since a patient may be directed to an unregulated trader through an advertisement or recommendation that imitates legitimate medical communication.

The Commission also raised the issue of food supplements promoted as being capable of curing, treating or preventing diseases. Várhelyi explained that simply labeling a product commercially as a “supplement” does not allow it to avoid pharmaceutical legislation if the product is presented as having a medicinal function. In such a case, the rules applicable to medicines and the requirements for marketing authorization come into play.

This distinction is important because not all food supplements are medicines and they must not be described as such. The issue raised by the Commission arises when a product is attributed effects of treating or preventing diseases, and its promotion attempts to create the impression for consumers that they are purchasing a medical solution without the product having undergone the procedure required for a medicine.

Várhelyi also linked combating the phenomenon to border controls. Illegal products purchased online may enter the European market through commercial flows and cross-border parcels, involving customs authorities and the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF). Detecting fraudulent imports thus becomes part of the same protection chain as verifying pharmacies and enforcing digital rules.

The criminal dimension is equally important. The Commission considers that the counterfeiting of medicines cannot be treated exclusively as an infringement of intellectual property, because it can have direct effects on people’s lives and health. Investigating networks operating in several countries requires information sharing and coordination between national authorities, Europol, Eurojust and other relevant European structures.

The Council of Europe’s Medicrime Convention was also mentioned in the debate. It creates a framework for criminalizing the counterfeiting of medical products and other related activities that threaten public health. Várhelyi drew attention to the still limited participation of EU Member States in this instrument and presented expanding criminal cooperation as a component of the response to the cross-border nature of the illegal market.

The Commissioner also mentioned joint operations conducted against illegal medicine networks, including cooperation coordinated by Europol with authorities from several countries. However, the file underlying this article does not contain the primary operational source necessary to independently verify figures on seizures, websites shut down or people arrested, which is why these figures are not included in the article as confirmed data.

The same caution is necessary regarding sanctions against certain online platforms mentioned in the Commission’s initial statement. The transcript includes specific figures associated with Digital Services Act procedures, but the official documents for those decisions are not part of the file reviewed for this news report. They are therefore not used here as evidence of action against counterfeit medicines.

The Commission’s broader message is that relevant legislation already exists in several areas, but its effectiveness depends on coordinated enforcement. Pharmaceutical rules protect the legal medicines circuit, the Digital Services Act establishes responsibilities for online services, customs authorities control the entry of goods, and judicial and police cooperation instruments can be used against cross-border networks.

Members of the European Parliament focused precisely on the difference between rules existing and their effective enforcement. Several speakers called for the faster removal of illegal advertisements and offers, greater responsibility for platforms that facilitate access to them, and clearer tools enabling consumers to verify whether an online pharmacy or trader is legitimate.

The Commission did not announce a new single legislative act in this debate to replace all these mechanisms. The position expressed by Várhelyi is that protecting patients requires more effective and coordinated use of the instruments already in place, together with stronger cooperation between health authorities, platforms, law enforcement services, customs and the judiciary.

For consumers, the essential distinction remains between a product offered through an authorized pharmaceutical channel and one sold through sources that cannot be verified. In the context of online commerce, protection depends not only on the authenticity of the package, but also on the ability to verify who is selling the product, whether the seller is entitled to market it and whether the therapeutic claims associated with it comply with European legislation.

https://2eu.brussels/ro/news/comisia-cere-platformelor-sa-verifice-comerciantii-si-sa-elimine-rapid-ofertele-de-medicamente-falsificate