On February 16, 2011 the EU Parliament adopted an amendment to the Directive 2001/83/EC. This Directive will have a major impact on the GMP environment e.g. because of more stringent rules for APIs and Excipients, GMP inspection of traders and wholesalers as well as new safety features on the packaging of medicinal products. This is why the ECA Foundation invited representatives from the European Medince Agency (EMA) and from the most important interest groups such as EFPIA, APIC/CEFIC, IPEC, QP Association to discuss the consequences at the conference "The New Pharma Directive" taking place in Berlin, Germany, from 5-6 October 2011. For further details please see the programme and the information about the new directive.