Medicines Act 1968

4 Establishment of committees

(1) The Ministers, the Health Ministers or the Agriculture Ministers, having regard to any recommendations made by the Commission under section 3(2) of this Act, and after consultation with such organisations as the Ministers concerned consider appropriate, may by order establish one or more committees under this section.

(2) A committee may be so established for any purpose, or combination of purposes, connected with the execution of this Act or the exercise of any power conferred by it, either generally or in relation to any particular class of substances or articles to which any provision of this Act is applicable.

(3) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (2) of this section, in relation to any such class of substances or articles a committee may be established under this section for either or both of the following purposes, that is to say—

(a) giving advice with respect to safety, quality or efficacy, or with respect to all or any two of those matters;

(b) promoting the collection and investigation of information relating to adverse reactions, for the purpose of enabling such advice to be given.

(4) A committee or committees may be established under this section for the purpose of performing any function under Part VII of this Act in relation to the British Pharmacopoeia or in relation to any such compendium or list of names or other publication as is mentioned in that Part of this Act.

(5) The Ministers by whom a committee is established under this section shall appoint the members of the committee, and shall appoint one of those members to be chairman of the committee.

(6) In this Act " the appropriate committee ", for the purposes of any provision of this Act under which a function falls to be performed, means such committee established under this section for purposes which consist of or include any of those specified in subsection (3) of this section as the authority performing that function considers appropriate in the circumstances.