資訊 觀點 案例 律途 薦讀 藥品營銷領(lǐng)域一直是商業(yè)賄賂高發(fā)風(fēng)險環(huán)節(jié),也是中國近些年嚴(yán)厲監(jiān)管和打擊的業(yè)務(wù)領(lǐng)域。無論是在醫(yī)藥企業(yè)日常運營中還是在并購和資本運作中,如何發(fā)現(xiàn)并防范藥品營銷商業(yè)賄賂問題十分重要。 2016年《最高人民法院、最高人民檢察院關(guān)于辦理貪污賄賂刑事案件適用法律若干問題的解釋》進一步明確:賄賂犯罪中的“財產(chǎn)性利益”包括可以折算為貨幣的物質(zhì)利益如房屋裝修、債務(wù)免除等,以及需要支付貨幣的其他利益如會員服務(wù)、旅游等。新修訂的《反不正當(dāng)競爭法》也列舉了商業(yè)賄賂的具體行為類型,刪除了“回扣”條款,并增加了“經(jīng)營者的工作人員進行賄賂的,應(yīng)當(dāng)認(rèn)定為經(jīng)營者的行為”的規(guī)定。 上述新法規(guī)的頒布實施,對醫(yī)藥企業(yè)藥品銷售合規(guī)工作提出了新的挑戰(zhàn),尤其是醫(yī)藥企業(yè)普遍采用的“以學(xué)術(shù)名義進行藥品推廣”方式,其中會否存在向醫(yī)生、學(xué)術(shù)機構(gòu)人員輸送“財產(chǎn)性利益”情況并進而被認(rèn)定為商業(yè)賄賂,也是目前醫(yī)藥企業(yè)普遍關(guān)注的問題。 本文結(jié)合相關(guān)適用法規(guī)的理解及實務(wù)操作經(jīng)驗,對藥品營銷業(yè)務(wù)中“學(xué)術(shù)推廣商業(yè)賄賂”法律風(fēng)險的認(rèn)定及防范進行探討和分析。 風(fēng)險識別 通過學(xué)術(shù)推廣活動名義進行賄賂,主要是指醫(yī)藥企業(yè)通過主辦學(xué)術(shù)會議,或?qū)︶t(yī)藥學(xué)術(shù)會議主辦單位(各類醫(yī)藥行業(yè)協(xié)會、醫(yī)療機構(gòu))、參會醫(yī)生提供資金資助,幫助解決會議召開及參會醫(yī)生的食宿、交通、注冊、專家授課等費用,誘使利益接受方違背其法定義務(wù)或職業(yè)道德,利用其權(quán)力、影響力,為利益輸送方謀取好處或誘使交易發(fā)生。其風(fēng)險表現(xiàn)形式包括但不限于: 1.對醫(yī)藥行業(yè)協(xié)會主辦的會議提供贊助; 2.對醫(yī)療機構(gòu)主辦的會議提供贊助; 3.對行業(yè)協(xié)會、醫(yī)療機構(gòu)委托的第三方會務(wù)公司提供贊助; 4.醫(yī)藥企業(yè)自辦學(xué)術(shù)會議,邀請并贊助醫(yī)生參加會議; 5.醫(yī)藥企業(yè)贊助醫(yī)生參與第三方主辦的學(xué)術(shù)會議,承擔(dān)參會醫(yī)生的交通費、食宿、注冊費; 6.以費用報銷的形式,為參會醫(yī)生個人提供參會的交通、食宿、注冊費用。 風(fēng)險防范 筆者對贊助醫(yī)院或協(xié)會主辦學(xué)術(shù)會議的合規(guī)建議: (1)事前審查會議性質(zhì),確保會議屬于與診療技術(shù)相關(guān)的學(xué)術(shù)性會議;(2)避免將醫(yī)院內(nèi)部業(yè)務(wù)科室、職能部門或協(xié)會內(nèi)部機構(gòu)作為贊助對象;(3)簽訂書面協(xié)議,明確贊助資金僅能用于會議本身,確保??顚S?;(4)贊助資金必須“公對公”,并由受贈單位出具公益事業(yè)捐贈統(tǒng)一票據(jù)或會議贊助發(fā)票,避免將贊助款交給個人或某個部門。 筆者對贊助醫(yī)生參加第三方會議或企業(yè)自辦學(xué)術(shù)會議的合規(guī)建議: 保留醫(yī)生真實參會的材料。注意留存邀請函、會議通知、會議議程、參會醫(yī)生的注冊費用發(fā)票、現(xiàn)場簽到、現(xiàn)場照片、PPT等會議材料,證明學(xué)術(shù)會議本身及醫(yī)生參會的真實性; 合理安排參會行程和選擇會議地點。贊助醫(yī)生參加第三方會議時,行程時間安排應(yīng)適當(dāng)緊湊;行程路線安排應(yīng)避免非正常經(jīng)過旅游城市或景點,并滯留時間較長。企業(yè)自辦會議的不宜將會議地點選擇在風(fēng)景區(qū)內(nèi); 避免無關(guān)費用支出。費用支出上應(yīng)該僅限于正常的交通、住宿、餐飲、注冊費用,避免出現(xiàn)景點門票、導(dǎo)游服務(wù)費、導(dǎo)游加班費、用途不明的雜費等與會議無關(guān)的非正常費用; 贊助指向性不應(yīng)過于明確。不應(yīng)與醫(yī)生個人簽訂贊助協(xié)議,也不宜與醫(yī)院簽訂指向性過于明確的贊助協(xié)議; 贊助費用標(biāo)準(zhǔn)避免過高。贊助醫(yī)生參加第三方會議,如會議主辦方對住宿、餐飲有統(tǒng)一安排的,應(yīng)以主辦方的安排為準(zhǔn),不宜另外提供明顯更高價位的食宿安排;企業(yè)自辦會議或第三方會議主辦方對住宿、餐飲沒有安排時,注意將人均消費控制在合理的范圍內(nèi);交通費用方面避免安排頭等艙、頭等座。 原文登載于《商法》雜志2018年第8期 Avoid “academic promotion commercial bribery” in medicine marketing Medicine marketing has long had a high risk of being prone to commercial bribery. As such, it is not surprising this has been a business that China strictly regulates and has cracked down on in recent years. It is important to uncover, as well as prevent, commercial bribery in medicine marketing, be it in daily operations, in mergers and acquisitions or capital operations of pharmaceutical enterprises. The Supreme People’s Court and the Supreme People’s Procuratorate jointly issued in 2016 further clarifications on the interpretations concerning some issues on the application of the law in handling cases of corruption and bribery. The clarifications cover “property interests” in bribery crimes, including material benefits, such as house decoration and debt relief, which can be converted into money and other benefits like membership services and travel. The newly revised law against unfair competition also enumerates the specific types of commercial bribery, where the “kickback” clause is deleted and the provision, “where the employee of a business operator offers bribes, such act should be found to be an act of the operator”, is added. The promulgation and implementation of these new regulations pose new challenges to the compliance work of pharmaceutical enterprises in medicine sales, especially their widespread use of “medicine promotion in the name of academics”, including cases of “property interests” being tunnelled to doctors and academic staff and, thus, deemed to be commercial bribery. This is also a common concern of pharmaceutical enterprises. Based on the understanding and practical experience of relevant applicable laws and regulations, this article discusses and analyses the identification and prevention of legal risks related to “academic promotion commercial bribery” in medicine marketing. Risk Identification Bribery in the name of academic promotional activities mainly refers to situations where pharmaceutical enterprises, in hosting an academic conference, provides financial support to sponsors (all kinds of pharmaceutical profession associations and medical institutions) and participating doctors. The pharmaceutical enterprises also help with expenses for board and lodging, transportation, registration and expert instructions for the conference. As for participating doctors, they induce the benefit receivers to violate their legal obligations or professional ethics and use their power and influence to seek benefits or induce transactions for the bribe givers. The risk manifestations include, but are not limited to: 1.Sponsoring conferences organized by pharmaceutical profession associations; 2.Sponsoring conferences organized by medical institutions; 3.Sponsoring third-party conference service companies entrusted by the profession association or medical institution; 4.Inviting and sponsoring doctors to attend the academic conferences held by the pharmaceutical enterprises themselves; 5.Sponsoring doctors to participate in academic conferences held by third parties and bearing the expenses for transportation, board and lodging, and registration fees of the attending physicians; 6.Providing expenses for transportation, board and lodging and registration to participating doctors in the form of expense reimbursement. Risk prevention The writer of this article makes the following compliance suggestions for sponsoring hospitals or associations to hold academic conferences: i. Review the nature of the event in advance to ensure it is an academic conference related to treatment technologies; ii. Avoid sponsoring the internal business department or functional department of a hospital or an internal organization of an association; iii. Sign a written agreement to make clear that the sponsorship funds can only be used for the conference so as to ensure the exclusive use of the special funds; iv. Sponsorship funds must be “public to public”, and the receiving unit shall issue the uniform bill for donation of public welfare undertakings or the invoice for conference sponsorship to avoid giving sponsorship money to individuals or certain departments. This writer also makes the following compliance suggestions for sponsoring doctors to attend third-party conferences or academic conferences held by enterprises themselves: a. Retain materials connected to the doctors’ actual attendance. It should be noted that the invitation letters, conference notices, agendas, invoices of registration fees of the participating doctors, sign-in forms, photos of the scene, PPT and other conference materials, should be retained to prove the authenticity of the academic conference itself and the doctors’ attendance. b. Reasonably arranging the schedule and choosing the venue. When a doctor is sponsored to attend a third-party conference, the travel time should be arranged appropriately tight; the itinerary should be arranged in such a way as to avoid the abnormal passage through the tourist city or scenic spots and long stays. For conferences that enterprises host, it is not suitable to choose a venue in scenic places. Avoiding extraneous expenses. Expenses shall be limited to the normal expenses of transportation, accommodation, catering and registration, and the occurrence of abnormal expenses not related to the conference, such as entrance tickets, tour guide service fees, tour guide overtime fees, and miscellaneous expenses for unknown purposes irrelevant with the conference should be avoided. Sponsorship should not be too specific. It is neither advisable to sign sponsorship agreements with individual doctors, nor sign sponsorship agreements with hospitals that are too specific in their direction. Avoiding too high sponsorship fees. To sponsor a doctor for a third-party conference, if the organizer has a unified plan for board and lodging, its arrangement shall be followed and it is not advisable to offer other alternatives at higher price ranges. When the organizer of the enterprise’s own conference or third-party event makes no arrangement for board and lodging, attention should be paid to keeping the consumption per person within a reasonable range. First-class cabins and seats should be avoided in terms of transportation costs. Original source: CBLJ Issue 8, 2018 胡曉華 天達共和合伙人 北京辦公室 公司與證券部 Cindyhu@east-concord.com +8610 6510 7012 胡曉華律師專注于資本市場證券、公司并購與重組、合規(guī)及法律風(fēng)險防控。胡律師曾作為司法部與英國的青年律師合作項目選拔的優(yōu)秀青年律師,赴英國倫敦大學(xué)進修英國法律,并作為客座律師在英國司力達律師事務(wù)所倫敦總部及香港分所學(xué)習(xí)公司融資方面的律師實務(wù)。胡律師曾獲得過北京市優(yōu)秀律師、朝陽區(qū)首屆優(yōu)秀女律師等殊榮,并多次被《亞洲法律評論》(AsiaLaw Profiles)評為公司并購及重組領(lǐng)域亞洲領(lǐng)先律師。 |
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