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AgVetLink April 2003

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Changes in product advertising policy

The ACVM Group's policy on advertising (ref: Product Advertising Policy, 164 ACVM 10/02) states that the prescription only status on the product must be included in any advertisement. All other limitations on advertising in the policy are generic and refer to all agricultural compounds.

Several parties have advised the ACVM Group that this is inadequate guidance for a number of reasons. Some types of PAR products should not be advertised to the public at all. For those that may be advertised, the advertisement should always be consistent with the registrations.

Acting on this advice, the ACVM Group has amended the advertising policy. The New Zealand Veterinary Association code of practice Promotion of Prescription Animal Remedies by Veterinarians and Industry was taken into consideration when developing the following amendments.

Classes II and III PAR products must not be advertised in any way to the general public.

It is acceptable for registrants or third parties to advertise (either directly or via trade-specific publications such as special branch newsletters, the New Zealand Veterinary Journal or Vetscript) classes II and/or III PAR products to veterinarians who have the right to prescribe them. It is not acceptable to advertise such products to the general public or even to particular user groups.

Class I PAR products may be advertised under certain circumstances.

The advertisements must be technically correct and factual. Any product claims must be able to be substantiated (and consistent with the claims approved as part of the product's registration). There must be no distortion through exaggeration, misleading statements or untrue emphasis. There must be no reference to websites that are not under the control of the registrant and that may present the product in a manner or make claims that are inconsistent with its registration.

Registrants may draw attention (including in television advertisements) to their products in a factual and technically correct manner. However, there must not be any inducement offered or any presentation of the product to the end user in a manner that causes undue influence on the prescribing veterinarian.

Prescription animal remedy (PAR classes I, II or III) products must not be displayed for general sale.

The revised product advertising policy can be viewed on the ACVM Group website.

Codes of practice becoming ACVM standards

Some parties have expressed confusion in regard to the nature and content of codes of practice approved under section 28 of the ACVM Act. Other parties have suggested that some of the codes of practice that have been developed by the ACVM Group and approved under section 28 do not have the commonly accepted characteristics of codes of practice.

For example, the Code of Practice for Own Use of Compounds is a statement of the regulatory expectations in regard to such use, but it does not provide any operational detail that would guide practice. This code is better described as a standard similar in content to schedule 4 of the ACVM Regulations that specifies the requirements for oral nutritional compounds. The New Zealand Feed Manufacturers Association was able to use schedule 4 to develop a more traditional type code of practice that provides practical guidance to meet the requirements specifications in the schedule.

It is highly unlikely that the ACVM Group would have a need or be in a position to develop a true code of practice specifying operational requirements in any detail. The ACVM Group sees the soundness of the distinction between standards and codes of practice. Consequently, the Group will develop ACVM standards to state explicitly the regulatory expectations in regard to particular activities. The standards will be used when reviewing codes of practice submitted for approval under section 28 of the ACVM Act.

Standards will be put forward for public consultation as they are developed. There will be standards for other activities developed, but the following will be priority topics:

• use of prescription animal remedies by non-veterinarians;
• trading in prescription animal remedies; and
• distribution, sale and use of vertebrate toxic agents.

For the time being the Code of Practice for Own Use of Compounds will remain an approved code of practice to provide a basis for the first exemption in schedule 1 of the ACVM Regulations. However, it will be duplicated as an ACVM standard to be used to review any relevant code of practice proposed by third parties.