Table 3

Accessibility and quality of drug company payment data disclosed via centralised industry databases and eurosfordocs.eu

Country	Name of regulation	Overseeing authority and database web link2–4	Payment data accessibility*					Payment data quality*
Country	Name of regulation	Overseeing authority and database web link2–4	Document format	Single data template	Database searchable	Customisable summary statistics	Database downloadable	Characteristics included	Aggregation of payments	Payments with or without taxes	Unique identifiers
Self-regulation at the European level—minimum requirements
EFPIA	EFPIA Code	EFPIA	Not regulated	Yes (‘EFPIA disclosure template’), but deviations allowed	Not regulated	Not regulated	Not regulated	Donors; recipients; recipient location; payment categories and amounts; year	Annually per payment type	No single rule, each company sets its own rules for VAT reporting which are published separately from payment disclosures	Optional
Centralised online industry databases
UK	ABPI Code of Practice	Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry	Website, XLS	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Donors; recipients; recipient categories (healthcare professionals) and location; payment categories and amounts; year; web links with further descriptions for some payments	Annually per payment type for healthcare professionals; payments to healthcare organisations itemised	No single rule, each company sets its own rules for VAT reporting which are published separately from payment disclosures	No
Czech Republic	Eticky Kodex AIPF	Asociace inovativního farmaceutického průmyslu	Website	Yes	Yes (but requires donor or recipient identifiers)	No	No	Donors; donor location; recipients; recipient location; payment categories and amounts; year	Annually per payment type	No single rule, each company sets its own rules for VAT reporting which are published separately from payment disclosures	Recipient and donor identifiers
Denmark	Ethical rules for the pharmaceutical industry’s donations and grants	Lægemiddelindustriforeningen	Readable PDFs	Yes	No	No	Yes	Donors; project name; recipients; product name; funded activity; payment goal; timescale of funded activity; payment amount and form (cash or benefit in kind)	No	Unclear	No
Greece	SFEE Code of Conduct	Hellenic Association of Pharmaceutical Companies	Website	Yes	No	No	No	Donors; recipients; recipient categories; payment descriptions, categories goals, and amounts; date	No	No single rule, each company sets its own rules for VAT reporting which are published separately from payment disclosures	No
Ireland	Code of Practice of the Pharmaceutical Industry	Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association	Website	Yes	No	No	No	Donors; recipients; recipient location; payment categories and amounts; year	Annually per payment type	No single rule, each company sets its own rules for VAT reporting which are published separately from payment disclosures	Partial (recipient identifiers used by some companies)
Industry data integrated within an independent database†
Euros fordocs. eu	Codes of conduct in countries where data was collected‡	N/A	Website, XLS	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Donors; recipients; recipient location; payment categories and amounts; year	Annually per payment type for healthcare professionals (all countries). Annually per payment type for healthcare organisations in all countries but the UK, where payments to healthcare organisations are itemised	No single rule, each company sets its own rules for VAT reporting which are published separately from payment disclosures	Spain: recipient identifiers. Other countries: No

*Lighter colours indicate, respectively, higher, and darker colours—lower, data accessibility and quality. In the upper part of the table, the centralised industry databases are presented in the descending order of their overall data accessibility and quality, that is, the greater overall number of lighter cells a database has the higher its position within the table. Databases with equal numbers of lighter and darker cells are sorted alphabetically.
†The disclosure requirements ordinarily cover both healthcare professionals and organisations. The exceptions are the database run by the Danish pharmaceutical industry trade group (donations to hospitals) and the database run by the Greek pharmaceutical industry trade group (only payments to healthcare organisations).
‡Ireland, Italy, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.
§Web links are accurate as of May 2021.
¶Some pharmaceutical industry trade groups create and delegate some responsibility for the everyday operation of their codes to sub-divisions such as the Ethical Committee for the Pharmaceutical Industry (established by Denmark’s LIF) or the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority (established by the UK’s ABPI). However, the ultimate responsibility for managing and overseeing the codes is with the trade group.
EFPIA, European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations; VAT, Value-added tax.