The BP Commission
The British Pharmacopoeia Commission (BPC) is responsible for preparing new editions of the British Pharmacopoeia [BP] and British Pharmacopoeia (Veterinary) [BP (Vet)] and for keeping them up to date.
The BPC is also responsible for the selection and publication of British Approved Names which are used as the headings of monographs in the BP and BP (Vet). It also provides advice to the United Kingdom Delegation to the European Pharmacopoeia Commission, of which the United Kingdom is a member by virtue of its obligations under the Convention on the Elaboration of a European Pharmacopoeia.
The BPC appoints members of Expert Advisory Groups, Panels of Experts and Working Parties in order to assist in carrying out its role. The BPC is an advisory non-departmental public body.
Appointments
Members of the British Pharmacopoeia Commission are appointed by the Appointments Commission (www.appointments.org.uk), which is an independent organisation responsible, on behalf of the Secretary of State, for appointing Chairs and members to the Department of Health Advisory Bodies established under the Medicines Act 1968.
The majority of members of the BPC are appointed for a (renewable) term of 4 years and can serve for a maximum of 10 years. The appointments are regulated by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments.
For details of the current members, please click here.
Meetings
The BPC usually holds three scheduled meetings per year. These are held at the MHRA offices in London. Summary Minutes of these meetings are publicly available on this website.
Code of Practice
All members of the British Pharmacopoeia Commission are required to comply with the BPC Code of Practice on Declaring Interests in the Pharmaceutical Industry and to complete an annual Declaration of Interests form. Members’ interests are available in PDF format (opens new window).
For a PDF copy of the Code of Practice, please click here (opens new window).
For a printer friendly (plain text) version of the Code of Practice, please click here (opens new window).
Annual Report
The activities of the BPC are reported annually as part of the Medicines Act 1968 Advisory Bodies Annual Reports.
- For a PDF copy of the 2006 annual report, please click here (opens new window).
- For a PDF copy of the 2007 annual report, please click here (opens new window).
- For a PDF copy of the 2008 annual report, please click here (opens new window).
- For a PDF copy of the 2009 annual report, please click here (opens new window).
- For a PDF copy of the 2010 annual report, please click here (opens new window).