Regulating the Food and Drug Sector in Ethiopia: Current Status and Concerns

Abstract

Of the various functions attributed to law, one is the traditional functions of the regulation of societal behavior. Law is characterized by the feature of normativity for its capacity to establish a norm in society. Business law, specifically economic/social regulation in law is one of the manifestations of this norm-building process. The time which favors for a government and its enforcement organs distanced from the market as much as possible is being replaced by a more regulation-friendly market system. Certain areas of business call for regulations for stronger reasons. The food and drug industry comes at the forefront of this sector. This article presents the constitutional and legal basis of the food and drug industry regulation in Ethiopia. It starts by presenting the traditional arguments for regulation, in general, and the food /medicine sector, in particular. A global approach to the food and drug industry is presented to lay the foundations for Ethiopian case narration. This is followed by the investigation of the FDRE Constitution for locating a basis for regulation of the industries. An exhaustive examination of the current laws which have a direct relation with regulating the food and drug industry is presented paving the road for the discussion of the major issues worthy of consideration in the discourse of regulation of the food and drug industry in Ethiopia. The article argues that the Ethiopian regulatory legal framework is constitutional and there indeed is a sufficient basis for the food and drug regulation, yet the fear of capture of the regulator by the industry is not sufficiently addressed in the legal framework.