Upcoming amendments to veterinary medicine legislation
Changes to the Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2013 (VMR) will come into force on October 1, 2013.
As of this date, there will be reductions to existing fees for certain types of applications and inspections to avoid over-recovery of costs.
There will also be increases to existing fees arising from additional responsibilities required by European legislation or in order to ensure full cost recovery.
Furthermore, there will be three minor adjustments to inspectors' enforcement powers.
Examples of the changes include introducing a fee for the renewal of a registration of a homeopathic remedy, amendments to the category descriptions for extensions to marketing authorisations, and changes to the fees applied by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) for the registration of Veterinary Practice Premises.
The VMR first came into force in 2005 to consolidate all the controls on veterinary medicines that were previously part of the Medicines Act 1968, as well as 50 amending Statutory Instruments.
Changes will be implemented in an effort to ensure that the VMR legislation remains up to date for the control of procedures concerning the authorisation, manufacture, supply and use of veterinary medicines in the UK.
Click here to view an Explanatory Memorandum of the upcoming changes.
Veterinary practices are being urged to help owners safely dispose of any unused and expired pet medicines - not just antibiotics - during November's Animal Medicines Amnesty. 
