Can a veterinarian send expired RVMs to charities offshore

the professional obligations for veterinarians registered in new zealand do not change because the owner of an animal is a charity, or if the animal is not resident in new zealand veterinarians should consider the following a veterinarian can authorise the restricted veterinary medicines (rvms) veterinarians cannot supply (or sell or give away) an rvm to another veterinarian (with the exception of approved sellers with acvm) veterinarians can only authorise rvms following a consultation for animals under their care, and would need to meet the expectations set out in the code, including a veterinary consultation must include the veterinarian 1\ interviewing the client (or a legitimate and authorised representative of the client) 2\ collecting and recording sufficient information relevant to the individual circumstances to ensure the proposed course of action (including treatment) is appropriate to meet the needs and best interests of the animal(s) and the client 3\ obtaining appropriate consent to the proposed course of action 4\ being given, and accepting responsibility for, the ongoing health and welfare of the animal(s) concerned in relation to the consultation this includes arranging emergency care after considering the circumstances and the potential for adverse effects from, or failure of, the agreed course of action 5\ determining and providing the appropriate level of advice and training to ensure that the agreed course of action can proceed as planned a veterinary consultation will usually involve the veterinarian seeing the animal(s) at the time of the consultation if not, the animals must have been seen recently or often enough for the veterinarian to have sufficient personal knowledge of the condition/health status of the animal(s) veterinarians must also meet the expectations regarding product stewardship outlined in the code authorisation of an expired rvm just because an rvm has expired does not mean it can be 'given away' the appropriate process would be to dispose of it safely (i e , the expiry of a product does not eliminate risk) the authorisation of an expired rvm would be technically regarded as off label use, so the authorising vet will need to ensure that all potential risks are managed some of the key risks here would be potential safety issues (if the active ingredients or formulations are such that impurities and/or degradation products may develop in the formulation and affect the animal) inefficacy (if the active ingredient content degrades below what would be necessary to achieve the therapeutic effect) risks related to potential residues where they are used in food producing animals the veterinarian would be expected to manage these risks should they decide to authorise an expired rvm exportation and importation of an rvm the veterinarian could consider exporting the rvm and would need to meet the mpi requirements and comply with any other export controls, such as nz customs requirements when exporting veterinary medicines from new zealand, you're responsible for meeting the manufacturing and marketing requirements of the destination country reporting to mpi if your products become unfit for their intended use keeping the right records paying any applicable fees and charges who to contact if you have questions about exporting veterinary medicines, email approvals\@mpi govt nz the veterinarian would also need to consider that they would be importing the rvms into the destination country as a result, they would need to meet any regulatory requirements of the destination country, including the licensing or border clearance requirements in summary exporting expired restricted veterinary medicines from new zealand for charitable purposes is a complex activity that requires careful consideration of legal, ethical, and regulatory factors veterinarians must ensure compliance with the acvm act, the veterinary council of new zealand’s code of professional conduct, seek appropriate approvals, and uphold professional standards to protect animal welfare and public trust