[The drug trade between European countries and developing countries].

The quality of medicinal products marketed in developing countries has recently become the focus of lively debate and new interest. This report describes a survey conducted among officials from exporting and importing countries designed to evaluate the content and enforcement of current regulations. Resulting data indicated that, despite the high volume of trading in medicinal products between European and developing countries, regulations are poorly applied and many infractions occur. The most obvious abnormalities involve definition of market status. A list of banned is issued by the WHO but not by the European Economic Community. Regulations regarding generic products differ from one country to another and, since determination of the exact origin of a product may be difficult, compliance with good manufacturing practices is often unverifiable. A more cooperative attitude on the part of exporting countries and standardization of formalities on the part of importing countries will be necessary to stem the growing tendency to consider medicinal products as ordinary goods.