Spotlight News October 2018

The European Union’s Falsified Medicines Directive will enter into force on February 9, 2019. The Directive seeks to combat counterfeit medications from entering the supply chain by requiring pharmaceutical license-holders to serialize cartons, seal products, and upload unique identifiers to the European Medicines Verification System (EMVS). A “dispensing” healthcare organization must then verify the product against a similar national Verification System. The Directive also requires wholesalers, distributors, and logistics companies to implement risk-based measures to verifying and decommissioning products which they handle. 

Transport officials in Florida shut down an 80-mile stretch of Interstate 10 due to hazardous road conditions caused by Hurricane Michael. The Florida Highway Patrol closed a major section of the highway in both directions on Friday to allow clean-up crews to remove debris from the storm. Disruptions to ground freight transportation and from the highway closure likely occurred over the weekend. Authorities say it is unclear when I-10 is expected to reopen. Officials also issued the temporary closure of numerous truck stops in the state. Transporters and motorists are urged to exercise caution when traveling through alternative routes as there may still be downed power lines and trees along roads and highways.  

A thief in Hong Kong applied for and joined a logistics company and used his new credentials to pick up and steal a shipment of mobile phones and computers estimated to be worth $217,000. The thief reported to his new place of work in Lok Ma Chau the day after applying, and company officials provided him with the job to pick up 14 boxes of mobile phones and some laptops for delivery to Kwai Chung Container Terminal. The thief picked up the shipment and informed his employer that the delivery had been completed. However, company officials soon found that the thief lied and had disabled his phone.  

A mob of “hired thugs” reportedly attacked garment factory workers who were on strike in Yangon, Myanmar. The workers, the majority of whom are women, began striking two months ago over poor working conditions, harassment, and eventually the refusal of the employer to rehire 30 workers that were dismissed for initiating the labor stoppage. The workers were striking for the last eight weeks until a group of 40 individuals attacked the employees with wooden sticks and metal bars, wounding 28 people. Locals, instigated by the violence, then began vandalizing the factory, smashing several of the facility’s windows. Riot police arrived to halt the confrontation, and later stated that it was actually the striking workers who initiated the violence.