The European Commission has decided not to raise any objections, under EC Treaty state aid rules, to an exemption for sales of medicines made from blood from the Belgian levy on the turnover of pharmaceutical companies. The Commission’s investigation found that the exemption was in line with the logic of the Belgian levy system and therefore does not constitute state aid.

The Commission came to the conclusion that the exemption of blood derivatives is not selective as it is in line with the logic of the Belgian levy system. The Commission found that there is no risk of excessive consumption of blood derived medicines as they are nearly always prescribed and administered in hospitals by specialised doctors to a very small number of patients. In addition, in view of the risk of shortages and viral contamination, doctors make sure that administration of blood derivatives is limited to a minimum. The Commission therefore concluded that an exemption of all blood derivatives from the levy on sales of reimbursable pharmaceutical products does not constitute state aid.

Further details on the findings can be accessed at http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/09/1150&format=HTML&aged=0&language=en&guiLanguage= en