Regulating Advertisement of Medical Products and Services
According to the Medical Advertisement Law No. 206/2017 (the “Law”), any promotion or advertising of a healthcare product or service has to be pre-approved and licensed by a special committee to be established by the Prime Minister and chaired by the Minister of Health (the “Committee”).
By virtue of the Prime Minister’s decree No. 302/2022, the Committee was established under the name of the Supreme Committee for Medical Advertisement Licensing. It is chaired by Minister of Health and includes in its membership representatives of the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Supply and internal Trading, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Justice, Media Syndicate, Egyptian Medical Syndicate, and the Pharmacy syndicate.
The Committee is mandated to review the content of the advertisement or marketing materials of any medical product or service to ensure that its compliance with the law, public order and morals and that the medical product or service is compliant and properly licensed.
The Committee shall have a secretary responsible for the administrative affairs, and it will convene monthly. It is however required to issue its decision regarding advertisement requests within two weeks from the submission of the request.
The committee is authorized to request the relevant authorities to suspend the broadcasting or publication of unauthorized advertisement.
Violating the Law by publishing or allowing the publication of an unauthorized advertisement is penalized by imprisonment of a period of not less than one month and/or payment of a fine of not less than EGP 50,000 and not exceeding EGP 100,000.
If you have any questions or comments, please contact Mohamed Riad.