By Eric Brand

There is some wonderful, truly heart-warming news coming out of the UK today.  As we have mentioned before on our blog, there are changes afoot in EU law that will broadly affect the availability of Chinese herbal products.  However, there is a shining bright light that gives us all cause for rejoicing- apparently the British government is creating a special regulatory tier to allow continued access to Chinese medicine for registered practitioners.  I am not sure if this will allow the UK to serve as a gateway for all EU citizens to access TCM products or not, but certainly it opens up more possibilities and allows for greater access for our colleagues in the UK. Bravo!

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There is a good article circulating on the internet from the Journal of Chinese Medicine about this issue, here's a little quote:

"When the European Directive 2004/24/EC takes full effect in April 2011 it will no longer be legal for herbal practitioners in the UK to source unlicensed manufactured herbal medicines for their patients.  This Government wishes to ensure that the public can continue to have access to these products.
In order to achieve this, while at the same time complying with EU law, some form of statutory regulation will be necessary and I have therefore decided to ask the Health Professions Council to establish a statutory register for practitioners supplying unlicensed herbal medicines. This will ensure that practitioners meet specified registration standards.  Practitioner regulation will be underpinned by a strengthened system for regulating medicinal products.  This approach will give practitioners and consumers continuing access to herbal medicines.  It will do this by allowing us to use a derogation in the European legislation to set up a UK scheme to permit and regulate the supply, via practitioners, of unlicensed manufactured herbal medicines to meet individual patient needs."

Here's the original word from the UK government:

http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Consultations/Responsestoconsultations/DH_124337