Code of Practice

Ethical standards and compliance with applicable laws are critical to the medical technology industry's ability to continue its successful collaboration with healthcare professionals.  To enhance this relationship MTAA and the Medical Technology Association of New Zealand (MTANZ) have jointly developed a Code of Practice to facilitate ethical interactions with healthcare professionals and others in the medical technology industry.

The Code of Practice is a self-regulatory industry code that addresses several key areas of industry activity, e.g. claims and endorsements in advertising and promotional material, product training and education, third party educational conferences, hospitality, consultancy and fellowships.

The Code contains a complaints process which can be used by members of the medical technology industry, healthcare professionals, consumers and other organisations.

For enquiries relating to the industry Code of Practice please contact MTAA on (02) 9900 0650 or email code@mtaa.org.au.

→ Click here for a copy of the Code of Practice


Information on the Code of Practice

The 5th Edition of the MTAA/MTANZ Code of Practice commenced on 1 October 2009. 

Companies wishing to order code brochures and/or code postcards to use in their interactions with health professionals should contact reception@mtaa.org.au.

Reports from the Code Complaints Committee

Reports from the Code Appeals Committee

Training on the Code of Practice

The Code requires that employees understand the Code and its implications for the way a company does business. MTAA offers a range of training modules aimed at providing a better understanding of a company's responsilbilities under the Code. More information on Code training is available here.

Code Licence

The Code Licence uses a special licensee logo to identify those medical technology companies which support and complying with the MTAA/MTANZ Code of Practice. As a code licensee, a company is obliged to sign a licence agreement stating that it supports the principles and requirements of and confirms its commitment to implementing the Code of Practice. For more information, please follow the link to the Code Licence page.

Therapeutic Goods Advertising Code

The link to the Therapeutic Goods Advertising Code (TGAC) is published on the Therapeutic Goods Administration website. The TGAC covers therapeutic product advertisements directed to consumers.

Susan Anido, head of the TGA advertising unit, gave a presentation at the MTAA annual conference in 2009 explaining the TGAC in more detail.

AOA Guidelines for interaction with medical industry

The Australian Orthopaedic Association (AOA) has recently circulated a position statement on the interaction with medical industry.  The position statement aligns closely with the MTAA Code but the one major difference is that an orthopaedic surgeon may not accept financial or in-kind support from a company to participate in an industry meeting unless he/she is on the faculty. This is intended to include education and training meetings organised by a company.

It is the final paper adopted by the AOA Council and therefore binding on its members.  The AOA CEO has advised that he expects that the paper will be reviewed regularly (as is the MTAA Code).  He also says that the close alignment with the MTAA Code "reflects the constructive communication and cooperation that has taken place in recent times between our organisations". The AOA also encourages MTAA members to recognise and respond to the requirements on clinicians regarding non-acceptance of financial support to attend meetings.

The statement is available on the AOA website.