Reporting a suspect or falsified product

EOF examines complaints submitted by health professionals, hospitals and consumers about the quality and lawful circulation of products within its remit ^[3], and in its notice of 8 July 2026 it explicitly invited the public to submit "spontaneous reports" about unlawful practices that come to their attention ^[1]. A report is made in writing to the Organization — by email to relation@eof.gr or by filing it at the registry, 284 Mesogeion Avenue, 15562 Cholargos — while adverse reactions to medicines are reported separately through the Yellow Card ^[2][4]. What makes a report useful is not its intensity but its evidence: batch, pack, documents, photographs, where and when it was bought.

This article covers when and how to report. Checking a certificate of analysis for falsification and reading a tamper seal are described in separate texts; here they acquire a second use, because the record you keep at receipt is the material from which a usable report is built.

When a report is worth making

EOF oversees pharmaceutical raw materials, human and veterinary medicines, cosmetics, medicated animal feed, food supplements and medical devices ^[3]. A report is worth making when one of these is circulating outside the rules, or when a product is presented as if it belonged to one of them without meeting the conditions.

• A product presented as a medicine that does not appear in the EOF medicines register or the EU databases ^[4].
• A "supplement" in injectable form, or an "intravenous therapy" offered outside a medical setting — the case in the July 2026 notice ^[1].
• A medicine whose pack departs from what is expected, whose authenticity tape does not verify, or whose seal has been broken ^[4][6].
• Online sale of medicines from a site that is not a pharmacy or does not display the common EU logo ^[6][9].
• Material supplied with a research-use statement but promoted for administration to people.
• An adverse reaction to a medicine — here the right channel is the Yellow Card, not a complaint ^[4].

It is just as useful to know what is not a matter for EOF. If a laboratory reagent has lower purity than its certificate states, that is as a rule a question of quality and contract with the supplier, not unlawful circulation of a medicine. If the certificate itself is forged or the transaction is a fraud, the consumer-protection and law-enforcement authorities are competent. The General Secretariat of Commerce's complaints platform makes the same distinction: for matters within EOF's remit it refers people explicitly to the Organization itself, while general consumer issues go to the Consumer Line 1520 ^[5].

Where to send it, and how

EOF's contact page gives the address, the central email and the registry's opening hours for filing documents in person ^[2]. The Yellow Card and the authenticity-tape check are available from the Organization's electronic services ^[4]. If the seller is in another Member State, the report still goes to EOF; the Organization works with its counterpart authorities, and the European Medicines Agency collects the core guidance on buying medicines online ^[9].

What evidence is needed

A report is usable when a third party can identify the product, the seller and the batch without having to ask you again. The list below follows that logic.

1. Product identity: name as printed, strength or content as declared, batch number, expiry date, declared manufacturer.
2. Photographs of the closed pack from all sides, of the label and of the seal, and separately of the contents if the pack has already been opened.
3. Source of purchase: the address of the site or account, dated screenshots of the page, and the claims that accompanied the product.
4. Transaction documents: order confirmation, invoice or receipt, shipping label and tracking number.
5. Accompanying documents: package leaflet, certificate of analysis or safety data sheet, with a note of whether the batch number matches the pack.
6. The receiving record: date, condition of the parcel and the seal, who received it.
7. The product itself: keep it as received, under suitable storage conditions; do not discard it and do not return it to the seller before reporting.

Send copies and photographs, not original documents, and keep a copy of your message with the date it was sent. If you file the report at the registry, note the registry number it receives; it is the only reference you will have if you need to follow up. Write briefly and in chronological order: what you bought, from where, when you received it, what you observed and what you are attaching. Avoid labels and speculation about what the product contains; the authority will test that itself, and a text that describes facts is read faster than one that makes accusations.

What happens after the report

The report is examined by the Organization's control services ^[3]. Depending on the case, EOF may carry out an inspection or take samples; its laboratories perform physicochemical, microbiological, pharmaceutical-technical and other tests on raw materials, medicines, cosmetics and supplements ^[3]. The outcome may be withdrawal from the market, a public notice — like the one of July 2026 — or referral to the prosecuting authorities ^[1].

Two realistic expectations. A report is not a request with a response deadline, and the outcome often becomes visible only if it leads to a public notice. And a single report is rarely enough on its own; it gains weight when it coincides with others or when its evidence allows immediate identification. That is why the quality of the file matters more than how quickly it was sent.

Anonymity and protection

An anonymous tip-off is possible in practice but hard to act on: the service cannot ask for clarification or for the product itself. The details of people who submit reports are personal data, and EOF has a data protection officer with a published contact address ^[2].

Specific protection exists for people who report breaches they learned of through their work. Directive (EU) 2019/1937 protects persons who report breaches of Union law, including in the areas of product safety and public health, where the information was acquired in a work-related context ^[7]. In Greece it was transposed by Law 4990/2022 ^[8]. An employee of a clinic, warehouse or shop who sees unlawful distribution is covered by that framework; a consumer simply goes to the competent authority.

Why the receiving record matters here

The receiving record is written for another reason — so the laboratory knows what it received, when and in what condition. But when something turns out to be suspect, the same record becomes evidence. A photograph of the seal before it was opened, a batch number matched to the certificate on the day of receipt, a note about the condition of the parcel: without these, a report is an allegation; with them, it is a file ^[6].

There is also a reason not to trust one's impression alone: the appearance of a sample is not enough to judge whether it is genuine. A report therefore does not need to prove falsification; it only needs to give the authority what it needs to check. The logic is as old as the problem itself, since the counterfeiting of medicines is far older than the internet and has been exposed each time only when a way to measure it existed.