Experiences in some countries on electronic labels in quality management
On February 23, the Directorate for Standards, Metrology and Quality organized a professional working workshop in January 2024 with the topic "Experiences of some countries on electronic labels in quality management."
Dr. Ha Minh Hiep - Acting Director General of the Directorate for Standards, Metrology and Quality
Attending the workshop, there were Dr. Ha Minh Hiep - Acting Director General, Ms. Cao Thi Bich Ha - Deputy Director in charge of the Directorate of Product Quality Management (STAMEQ), along with representatives of units under the Directorate in a direct form and online.
Sharing regulations on electronic labels in some countries, Ms. Ha said that in Malaysia, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has issued rules allowing media products to have integrated screens use electronic labels; Or in Japan, documents accompanying the device must show users how the electronic label is displayed; In Ghana, electronic labels are accepted in place of physical labels, however, it is the manufacturer's responsibility to ensure that electronic labels cannot be tampered with;
Within the framework of the workshop, the Deputy Director in charge of the Directorate of Product Quality Management shared additional instructions for use of electronic medicinal products in some countries. Accordingly, expiration dates are often shown on commercial packaging and mainly focus on approving content and maintaining product information after approval, leading to a lack of focus on how drug labels are accessed and used, understand and comply with in practice. Therefore, it is necessary to change the approach to conventional expiration dates to electronic expiration dates.
For regulatory agencies, electronic expiration dates help share information faster, ensure accuracy, reduce resources and waiting time to bring new drugs to the market, contributing to the development of electronic health. For businesses, healthcare professionals and patients, the ability to access and tailor information on a case-by-case basis, with better readability and search capabilities, helps reduce drug shortages, wastes and impact to the environment.
However, electronic usage still has limitations, such as requiring technological understanding, for example, the elderly may have difficulty accessing it. Besides, rural areas or emergency situations do not have Internet access or do not have an Internet connection.
In Vietnam, we have issued Circular No. 18/2022/TT-BKHCN dated December 31, 2022 of the Minister of Science and Technology. This is a big step forward in implementing product labeling to meet the requirements of 4.0 technology development in accordance with international trends.
Dr. Ha Minh Hiep said, we have been behind schedule when providing solutions related to GS1 codes. Mr. Hiep cited, related to non-stop toll collection, if using the GS1 code, a vehicle will not only run in Vietnam but can run to other countries. Therefore, promoting the use of GS1 codes to synchronize data is essential.
At the conference, there was also a discussion and answers to questions and difficulties between experts and participating delegates.