The legislation under the Chinese Medicine Ordinance concerning the mandatory registration of proprietary Chinese medicines will come into force on Dec. 3 as an additional legal measure to protect public health, said the Hong Kong Department of Health on Thursday.

All proprietary Chinese medicines must satisfy the requirements by the Chinese Medicines Board of the Hong Kong Chinese Medicine Council to register so they can be sold, imported or possessed, said the department.

Selling, importing or possessing unregistered proprietary Chinese medicines in Hong Kong will be an offense, liable on conviction to a maximum fine of 100,000 HK dollars and two years' imprisonment.

In any proceedings for a contravention of the law, it shall be a defense for a person charged to prove he did not know, had no reason to suspect, and could not with reasonable diligence have discovered the medicine was not registered.

The department also mentioned that the board may provide exemptions for medicines required for education or scientific research, or imported for re-export, or prepared for or compounded by a registered or listed Chinese medicine practitioner for supply or treating a patient under his direct care.

Information to be provided through labeling and package inserts will become mandatory from December 1 next year.

Chinese medicine practitioners and traders, and other stakeholders have been kept informed and involved at different stages of development of the entire regulatory framework which was enacted in July 1999, said the department.

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