On 17 December 2012, the Permanent Representation of Ukraine to the Council of Europe handed to Mr Thorbjørn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe, its instrument of accession to the European Convention on the Elaboration of a European Pharmacopoeia as amended by the Protocol of 16 November 1989. This text will enter into force in Ukraine on 18 March 2013. Ukraine is the 38th member of the European Pharmacopoeia.

Ratification of the Convention marks the desire of the Ukrainian authorities to participate in the development of European standards of quality of medicines and to strengthen their collaboration with European countries in the field of medicines and healthcare, with the objective to share knowledge and expertise in order to better serve public health. It also shows the importance of the work of the European Pharmacopoeia Commission at international level.

There are now thirty-eight members of the European Pharmacopoeia Commission: Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom and the European Union. There are twenty-four observers: the World Health Organization (WHO); 5 member states of the Council of Europe - Albania, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and the Russian Federation; and 18 other countries in the world - Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Israel, Madagascar, Malaysia, Morocco, Republic of Belarus, Republic of Guinea, Republic of Kazakhstan, Republic of Singapore, Senegal, Syria, Tunisia, United States of America.