Regulating the policies of medicines in small states with special reference to the Maltese Islands

Abstract

The Barbados Programme of Action concluded that “Small island developing states are limited in size, have vulnerable economies and are dependent both upon narrow resource bases and on international trade, without the means of influencing the terms of that trade” (United Nations General Assembly, 1994: 4). As a small island state, Malta experiences limitations in various sectors, and upon the accession into the European Union (EU), Malta had to adopt the EU pharmaceutical legislative framework which is applied on all EU member states. The adoption of EU legislation sets a legal framework for all member states and this requires changes and adaptability by the concerned member state, although the framework may not be the best one for the requirements of each member state in all aspects. Following accession into the EU, there was a lot of criticism that EU accession had a negative impact on the regulation of medicines in Malta and some stakeholders were of the opinion that Malta could have carried out negotiations in a different way and adopted policies which were adequate for its particular small size (The Medical Association of Malta, 2006).