Both pharmaceutical medicine and biotechnology are rapidly developing scientific disciplines. European law has had to grapple with the complex issues that have emerged from these areas over the last few years. In view of this, the Institute of European Law at the University of Birmingham, in association with the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the UK, convened a conference at the University of Birmingham entitled ‘Aspects of European Health Care Law’. In the light of the Institute of European Law's function to provide a centre for supporting research and publication, we considered that the publication of a book on these topics would be a valuable contribution to a developing field. With the support of Cambridge University Press, we have been able to produce this collection, which will hopefully provoke a greater understanding of these issues.

We would like to thank, in particular, the President of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Medicine, Professor Peter Stonier, for his assistance and encouragement in organising the conference. In addition, the conference itself was generously sponsored by Abbott Laboratories, Fournier Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Hoechst Marion Roussel Ltd and SmithKline Beecham. We would also like to thank Mrs Nadene Bryan for her secretarial and administrative assistance in respect of both the conference and the book.

The collection intends to reflect the legal position at 1 January 2000.