The Irish Medicines Board notified my Department on 8 March last that possible counterfeit condoms had been placed on the Irish market. The condoms had been imported from China through a UK distributor to a company in County Meath.
The packaging of the counterfeit condoms was very similar in appearance to the genuine products and had a CE marking on the boxes. A large quantity of products, approximately 413,000 condoms, was seized from the Irish distributor by the board on 7 March. A recall notice targeted at pharmacies was issued by the board on 8 March instructing them to quarantine all affected products. Subsequently, the board confirmed that the counterfeit products did not meet the stringent European CE standards for condoms and immediately issued an urgent press release on 14 March notifying the public about the products and the serial numbers involved. Since that date, the board has been collecting the counterfeit products and approximately 165,000 condoms are now in its possession in addition to the amount ceased earlier. It is now known that the counterfeit products were in circulation on the Irish market for a number of months and an estimated 333,000 may have been sold.
I am satisfied that the board did everything in its power to safeguard public health and, working in tandem with the manufacturer and brand owner of the genuine products, has acted appropriately to prevent the supply of counterfeit products in the future.
