The risk of falsified medicines entering the distribution chain is increasing worldwide. The European Union therefore set out a number of measures to prevent falsified medicinal products from entering the legal supply chain (DIRECTIVE 2011/62/EU). The DELEGATED REGULATION (EU) 2016/161 describes the additional technical details for the further design of safety features.

From 9 February 2019, only prescription medicines with the new safety features may be marketed. For this purpose, a European verification system (EMVS) was developed to check whether a medicine packaging has the correct safety features.

As the health and safety of patients is of greatest importance to the pharmaceutical industry, a comprehensive strategy at European level is needed.

This is why the European Medicines Verification Organisation (EMVO) was created as a joint initiative of EU stakeholders representing manufacturers (Medicines for Europe, EFPIA, EAEPC), wholesalers (GIRP) and community pharmacists (PGEU). In addition, almost every European country also has a national organisation. For Belgium, this is the Belgian Medicines Verification Organisation (BeMVO vzw)