Amended procedure for sending, communicating and publishing letters and decisions
The Veterinary Medicinal Products Unit has set in motion a number of changes to the sending, communicating and publishing letters and decisions. The first step has already been taken by providing the decisions with the MEB logo. The next step will be the removal of the physical signature in the closing section. In addition, letters and decisions will be sent and communicated electronically in the near future. Furthermore, the Veterinary Medicinal Products Unit henceforth will be publishing decisions in the Veterinary Medicines Information Bank. This means they will no longer be published in the Government Gazette.
Signature to be removed from letters and decisions
From Friday, 7 October, the signature included in letters and decisions will be removed and replaced with a standardised text. This text will state that the document has been generated automatically and therefore does not contain a signature. The reason for this is that a signature qualifies as personal data under the General Data Protection Regulation.
Marketing authorisation no longer published in Government Gazette
Since 14 September, all decisions on marketing authorisations for veterinary medicinal products have been published in the Veterinary Medicines Information Bank. This decision is listed next to the relevant veterinary medicinal product alongside the date of publication. The monthly overview in the Government Gazette on marketing authorisations for veterinary medicinal products will therefore end as of November 2022. The final publication in the Government Gazette will take place on Monday 17 October. This publication will deal with decisions that have yet to be published before the first week of September 2022.
Transition to electronic sending and communication of letters and decisions
We have previously stated that we require an email address from all marketing authorisation holders for veterinary medicinal products. These email addresses are needed to communicate digital decisions. If you have not yet provided us with an email address, please use this form to submit the email address that you wish to use to receive digital decisions. For more information, please read the news item on Transition to Digital communication of Veterinary Medicinal Products Unit decisions. We will be kicking off electronic sending and communication of letters and decisions before the end of the year. As an exception to this, certificates will continue to be provided by post.
Changes to the Veterinary Medicines Information Bank
All approved SPCs, labels and package leaflets of veterinary medicinal products authorised in the Netherlands can be found in the Veterinary Medicines Information Bank. Earlier this year, the Veterinary Medicinal Products Unit conducted a survey into the use of the Veterinary Medicines Information Bank. Key areas of improvement have been formulated based on these results. A number of improvements will be implemented later this year. Keep an eye out for further news on this issue.
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