IFAH welcomes the 1st VICH Outreach Forum

1st meeting to discuss wider international harmonisation of registration requirements, exchange information and increase awareness of VICH

Brussels, 26 June 2012 – IFAH welcomes the first VICH Outreach Forum which meets in Brussels today and brings together 8 countries: Argentina, Brazil, China, Mexico, Morocco, Russia, South Africa, and Ukraine. Their questions, concerns and how they want to interact with VICH members will be heard and discussions will be held on how to facilitate global trade and production, and ensure availability of veterinary medicines and increased harmonisation of registration requirements of these medicines. The first VICH Outreach Forum is hosted by IFAH-Europe.

The VICH is a trilateral (EU-Japan-USA) programme aimed at harmonising technical requirements for veterinary product registration. Its full title is the International Cooperation on Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Registration of Veterinary Medicinal Products, and it was officially launched in April 1996. The VICH Outreach Forum was subsequent to the 4th VICH Public Conference in Paris in June 2010. This conference provided VICH with a first opportunity to understand the level of interest by other parties in this initiative. It was followed up with a Contact meeting in 2011, in consequence of which the VICH Outreach Forum was created. The main objective of this Forum is to provide a basis for wider international harmonisation of registration requirements, improve exchange of information and generate more awareness on VICH and its guidelines in countries outside the VICH scope. The Forum meeting will be chaired by VICH in collaboration with OIE.

Notes for editors
For more information on VICH: www.vichsec.org
For more information on IFAH-Europe: www.ifaheurope.org
For more information on IFAH: www.ifahsec.org

IFAH
The International Federation for Animal Health (IFAH) is an organisation representing manufacturers of veterinary medicines, vaccines and other animal health products in both developed and developing countries across five continents. The mission of IFAH is to foster a greater understanding of animal health matters and promote a predictable, science-based regulatory environment that facilitates the supply of innovative and quality animal medicines, vaccines and other animal health products into a competitive market place. These products contribute to a healthy and safe food supply as well as a high standard of health and welfare for animals and people.
For further information on IFAH, please visit www.ifahsec.org

For further press information please contact:
Kim Hardie, Communications Director
Tel.: +32 2 543 75 75
E-mail: k.hardie@ifahsec.org