Users and interested parties are welcome to comment on these drafts. It should be noted that:

      • although draft monographs must not be regarded as official standards, they will, once adopted by the Ph. Eur. Commission at a later date, become applicable and legally binding standards for the products concerned in all Ph. Eur. member states;

      • if general texts are not legally binding per se, they become mandatory when referred to in a monograph. Changes to general texts may therefore impact monographs.

Comments made after adoption of the text and/or publication in the Ph. Eur. will be too late to be considered. Users may then be in a position where their product is not compliant with the Ph. Eur. monograph, which is a legal standard in Europe. This could ultimately lead to a situation where a product can no longer be marketed in Europe.