Criteria for Ministry of Health’s support and endorsement for international events on health care issues that are held during the Danish EU Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first 6 months of 2012.

The Ministry of Health wishes to promote events on health care issues that may be of international interest and which are held during the first 6 months of 2012, i.e. during the Danish Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

The Ministry’s decision to support or to endorse such events is to be considered as factual administration. Thus the Ministry has a wide range of discretion in this matter. As in all matters the Ministry is, however, under an obligation to ensure compliance with the principles of good governance, including equality and equal treatment, laid down in existing administrative law.

In order to ensure that the selection of events that may be eligible for the Ministry’s support is based on a procedure that is transparent, consistent and unbiased, the Ministry of Health has laid down criteria regarding the extent to which the Ministry may be able to offer support for such events as well as the nature of such support.

Concerning the criteria it should be noted as a general principle that the extent and the nature of the Ministry’s support for international events on health care issues will depend on whether or not the topic of a given event is closely related to the priorities of the Danish EU Presidency in the area of health care (The innovation agenda “Smart health – better lives”, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and chronic diseases with diabetes as model disease).   

Minimum criterion:

The event concerns a health care issue and is of international interest.

This criterion means that the event should be of a certain (considerable) scale that has an international focus and that the topic of the event should fall within the area of health care, and furthermore, it should - naturally – be an event of some substance.   

Support: The Ministry of Health may offer its support for events that meet the minimum criterion in the following way:

• No financial support.
• Communication of information on the event through channels that are usually used by international fora (EU and WHO working groups etc.) that are concerned with the topic of the event and in which the Ministry is represented, and/or
• Communication of a request for announcement of the event in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ calendar of major international meetings during the first 6 months of 2012 with the opportunity to include a link from the Presidency calendar to the event’s webpage.
  

As mentioned above the Ministry has a wide range of discretion with regard to a decision on whether or not to lend its support to a given event. Naturally this also applies with regard to the assessment of whether a given event is of considerable scale and with sufficient international focus and of whether it meets the criterion regarding substance. Furthermore, it should be noted that the final decision to announce an event in the calendar of ‘Other meetings’ on the official Presidency webpage is made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the basis of a recommendation of the Ministry of Health.

Minimum criterion + Presidency relevance: The topic of the event is a health care issue of international interest and closely related to one (or several) priorities of the Danish Presidency in the area of health care.

These criteria imply that the event should meet the minimum criterion and additionally it should  be closely related  to one or several of the priorities of the Danish Presidency i.e. the innovation agenda:  ”Smart health – better lives”, antimicrobial resistance and chronic diseases with diabetes as model disease.

Support: The Ministry of Health may support events that meet the above criteria in the following way:

• No financial support.  
• Communication of information on the event through channels that are usually used by international fora (EU and WHO working groups etc.) that are involved in working with the topic of the event and in which the Ministry is represented, and/or
• Communication of a request for announcement of the event in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ calendar of major international meetings during the first 6 months of 2012 with the opportunity to include a link from the Presidency calendar to the event’s webpage and/or
• Using the official Presidency logo in connection with the use of the Ministry’s name and/or logo following further agreement with the Ministry and/or
• Using a declaration concerning affiliation to the Presidency such as: ”Under the auspices of the Danish Presidency of the Council of the European Union – the Ministry of Health” following further agreement with the Ministry and/or
• Participation in the event at ministerial and/or civil servant level (possibly as keynote speaker) if the Ministry’s calendar permits this.

As mentioned above the Ministry has a wide range of discretion with regard to a decision on whether or not to support a given event. Naturally this also applies with regard to the assessment of whether a given event is sufficiently closely related to one (or several) priorities of the Danish EU Presidency in the area of health care. Furthermore, it should be noted that the final decision to announce an event in the calendar of ‘Other meetings’ on the official Presidency webpage is made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the basis of a recommendation of the Ministry of Health.

The Ministry of Health invites all interested parties to contact the Ministry’s Divistion for International Cooperation at int@sum.dk with a view to entering into an agreement on the possible support and backing by the Ministry for events on health care issues organized during the Danish EU Presidency, always provided that the above criteria are considered to be met.

Questions may, furthermore, be addressed to Kirstine Hindsberger, Special Advisor, at +45 72 26 95 05.

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