The draft law “On amendments to the Criminal Code and the Code of Administrative Responsibility” has been published on the portal for discussing draft normative-legal acts.

The draft law provides for supplementing the Criminal Code and the Code on Administrative Liability with articles 228-2 and 59-2 respectively (“Violation of the legal requirements for prescription of medicinal products”). This includes imposing administrative and criminal liability on health-care workers and others for violating the legal prescription requirements for medicines, including the counterfeiting of prescriptions or other documents authorizing the receipt of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and medicines included in the list of powerful substances and precursors.

It is noted that this draft law will also help eliminate the practice of prescribing optional drugs for treatment in order to increase their sale.

In addition, private doctors and employees of non-governmental medical institutions are not allowed to prescribe potent medicines.