Revised the method of Rx notes for health functional foods

As a precedent for pharmaceutical and medical devices, "We need to look at the operation status of industry fair rules first"

Regarding the regulation of "Note Prescription of Health Functional Foods," the MFDS expressed its position to push for legislation after watching the operation of the prohibited regulation that the health functional food industry voluntarily announced.

 

The government plans to steadily monitor the operation of fair competition rules, draw up policies to support voluntary improvement in the health functional food industry, and review the need to revise health functional foods in earnest according to the results.

 

This is the result of examining the prescription management plan for health functional food submitted by the MFDS to the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee on the 13th.

 

Representative movements to pay attention to in order to improve the practice of prescribing health functional foods are the legislation of the National Assembly and the enactment of fair competition rules in the Fair Trade Commission and the Health Functional Food Industry.

 

In the case of legislation, Rep.

 

Kim Woni of the Democratic Party of Korea has proposed a revision to the medical law, and the Fair Competition Rules will take effect in April, discussed by the Fair Trade Commission and the KHSA.

 

The revision to the Medical Service Act stipulated that doctors and medical institutions are not allowed to receive rebates such as money and entertainment provided by health functional food companies.

 

The Fair Competition Rule is a method in which the health functional food industry voluntarily imposes penalties of less than 10 million won and heavy penalties of less than 100 million won when detecting rebates such as expedient health functional food note prescriptions.

 

Some worry that the revision of the Health Functional Food Act should be promoted separately from the revision and enforcement of the Fair Competition Rules to regulate the prescription of health functional food, but the MFDS, which is in charge, is in a position to watch the operation of the Fair Competition Rules.

 

Although the MOHW and the specialized committee of the Health and Welfare Committee expressed their position that the Health Functional Food Act needs to be revised prior to the revision of the Medical Service Act, the MFDS insisted that the need to revise the law be slowly considered.

 

The MFDS argued that medicines and medical devices also implemented fair competition rules in the industry first and then revised related laws over a period of time.

 

In the case of medicines, the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act was revised in 2010 after the enactment of the protocol in 1994, and the MFDS explained that the Medical Device Act was revised in 2013 after the enactment of the protocol in 2011.

 

The health functional food-style note prescription does not directly affect health insurance finances, and unlike medicines and medical devices, the reality that health functional foods have open consumer options also affected the direction of the MFDS' policy operation.

 

As a result, it is expected that the revision of the Health Functional Food Act will become a reality depending on the results of the enactment and enforcement of fair competition rules in the health functional food industry this year.

 

The MFDS said, "We will continue to monitor the operation of fair competition rules while supporting voluntary improvement in the industry," and explained, "According to the results, we will review the need to revise the Health Functional Food Act." Health functional foods have a variety of sales channels such as the Internet, large discount stores, pharmacies, multi-level, door-to-door sales, and home shopping, so consumers can choose them, and medicine and medical devices have also been revised since the enactment of the rules, the MFDS added.