01.03.2016 - Herbal products that are administered orally to animals as feeds or as veterinary medicinal products are classified jointly by Agroscope and Swissmedic. During the classification process, products are evaluated on a case-by-case basis taking account of all their characteristics (composition, manufacture, intended use, promotional claims, presentation, labelling and animal species. The presence of a particular plant is not in itself sufficient for classification. This change in practice, which is backed up by a judicial decision1, means that the former "Plant List" is no longer effective as of 1 February 2016 and has therefore been deleted.
This has been replaced on the websites of Swissmedic and Agroscope by the new document "Classification of herbal substances and preparations as animal feed or veterinary medicinal products" (not available in English).
The information sheets on the classification of products used in beekeeping have now become obsolete as a result of various medicinal products having since been duly authorised for bees and will likewise no longer be published. Information on this topic can be found, for example, on the website of apiservice gmbh (German, French and Italian only).
Information on all the veterinary medicinal products authorised in Switzerland can be found in the Compendium published by the Institute of Veterinary Pharmacology and Toxicology of the Vetsuisse Faculty in Zurich at www.tierarzneimittel.ch (German only).
1 Swiss Fed. Admin. Court ruling C-4612/2011 of 29 October 2013