Legal and policy framework

Thus, given diverse legal and economic frameworks, efforts to achieve harmony on major policies and procedures depend upon the various parties reaching accord on their basic goals. 

Though the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM) is welcomed by the stakeholders, there is a point of contention amongst them as to its eventual effectiveness since it is a non-legally binding policy framework. Its implications on trade are also important and need to be monitored closely by states and the business sector. 

The European legal and policy landscape is characterized by a basic divide between those countries which are part of the EU and therefore take part in the shaping of the (p. 692) Common European Asylum System (CEAS) under the EU s supranational framework, and those which are not, even though they may participate in the intergovernmental cooperation endeavours at the CoE. 

A distinction should be made between the different levels of political influence operating at different levels of policy. At the macro level, the body politic is regarded as representative of the public or the electorate. Hence, politics is a means by which society decides which regulatory direction is ethically acceptable, socially preferable, economically beneficial and scientifically reliable. From the perspective of representative democracy, therefore, it is desirable for politics to determine the overall legal frameworks within which dmgs are regulated. But at the micro level, where decisions are made which apply those legal frameworks to specific cases, it is not desirable for politics to exert influence on individual cases. 

This policy may well be shortsighted, but competition is such that pharmaceutical companies would prefer to accept the risk and save the money. It is this attitude that is a major contributor to the poor image of the industry in the eyes of the public and the media. Unfortimately in this and many other fields, selfregulation has not worked, so we probably have to look to strengthening legal framework and setting down requirements if improvements are to be made. 

---