This includes the Institutional Sessions, organized at the request of the Chairman or the SEPAR Board of Directors or proposed by the CCO and accepted by the Board of Directors. Sessions carried out jointly with other scientific societies from the same or associated specialties, whether Spanish or international, and others that are considered of interest to the strategic policy of SEPAR are considered institutional, as are the Manuel Tapia Formal Address, the Young Teaching Lecture and others which encourage integration between SEPAR members. These may be sessions with clinical, teaching, research or management content, preferably multidisciplinary or general, or others, as considered appropriate, proposed by the Board of Directors, the technical consultancy committees or the various SEPAR platforms.

Another important educational aspect of the SEPAR Congresses are the Congress courses which are carried out at the proposal of the working areas or at the recommendation of the CCO, for reasons of demand and interest, and the resident training forums which are currently held on the first day of the Congress, under the tutorship of senior experts, coordinated by the CCO and the Continuing Training Committee.

The third aspect of the SEPAR congress program is the SEPAR working areas, consisting of symposia, conferences and scientific communications, in various formats, which are assigned time every year.

On the basis of the philosophy that in the current conception of the Congress, all these activities and their content are educational, they must be programmed exclusively by the SEPAR CCO, in conjunction with the SEPAR Board of Directors, the area coordinators and other advisory committees involved, such as the Teaching and Continuing Training Committee, the International Relations Committee, the Press Office and any collaborations considered necessary.

Section 2 of the CCO regulations states that the coordination, organization, planning and financial management of all the activities related with the Society's annual congresses and the joint winter meetings, and the supervision, control and inspection of any external service provider which may be contracted for the purposes mentioned in this section will be the responsibility and function of the CCO. In addition, the CCO will be responsible for managing any relations with the pharmaceutical industry in all matters pertaining to the annual congresses and winter meetings of the Society, without prejudice to the responsibilities of the working areas.

In the specific section referring to the Director of the CCO, in addition to the Director's responsibility for organizational aspects, it will be his/her responsibility to supervise the Congress site and the sites of the Joint Winter Meetings and to represent the SEPAR Board of Directors in the presentations to the industry before the Congress is organized, to contact and meet the professional congress organizer (PCO) for the coordination of all activities, to propose satellite symposia requested by the industry to the Board of Directors for approval, checking that they meet the necessary requirements for scientific quality, to ensure that the official Congress documents contain the correct information according to the directives of the Board of Directors, and to present a financial budget before the Congress takes place, and a financial report after it is completed.

These Congress activities, particularly those involving courses, specialist medical training forums, symposia, conferences, “Lunch with the Professor” seminars, round tables, etc., must always meet the following requirements:

• a.

  The medical information must always be presented objectively; this is the responsibility of the continuing medical training providers and of SEPAR.

• b.

  The education provided by SEPAR through congresses and meetings must offer training based on 2 premises: transmission of knowledge by experts and information backed up by the best scientific evidence available.

• c.

  The information must always be objective and impartial, and the teaching staff or speakers must not accept any type of sponsorship which gives the sponsor the right to influence the programs.

• d.

  If the teaching staff and speakers have to use trade names in a presentation, the products or similar services of several companies must be mentioned generically.

• e.

  The teaching staff and speakers must make the participants aware of the source of the documentation and iconographic material provided by the industry.

• f.

  SEPAR does not consider acceptable any type of assistance that enables industry, in return, to select moderators, speakers, subject matter, content or documentation.

• g.

  Intellectual property rights concerning the training material will correspond to the authors of the material, to SEPAR or at most, to co-ownership with the sponsor.

This section on congresses refers to the organization of scientific symposia sponsored by pharmaceutical or commercial companies. The so-called parallel or satellite symposia, the recently introduced debate sessions, and promotional sessions which may be included in the future are addressed here. SEPAR agrees that this type of industry-sponsored symposia or meetings may be organized, but it reserves the right to inspect the scientific and technical content of these events before they are accepted. These meetings are continuing training tools that have been traditionally designed by the industry itself, since the industry needs to transmit information on the results of studies which, in one way or another, are related with the products they provide.

However, the regulations at the current time are strict, and holding these symposia is subject to the following rules:

• a.

  The commercial company that wishes to carry out a sponsored scientific symposium must send a request in writing to the CCO, which includes the title, subject matter and participants. The CCO will forward this request to the Board of Directors for their approval.

• b.

  The complete plan for the symposium must be in possession of the CCO on the day on which acceptance of papers ends, so that it can be included in the subsequently-issued Congress programs with mention of the sponsorship of the company in question.

• c.

  The symposium will be held during the period of the Congress, including the opening day, but outside the Congress timetable. The day on which it is to be held will be negotiated between the CCO and the sponsor company, and its priority will be set according to the date of receipt of the request in writing.

• d.

  The parallel symposium will be held, subject to a financial payment which will be determined by the Board of Directors.

• e.

  Expenses deriving from the symposium infrastructure (simultaneous translation, event stewards, technical resources, etc.) will be covered by the sponsor company. For setting up this infrastructure, the sponsor company will contact SEPAR's PCO, which will inform them about the resources provided by the Congress and those which must be provided by the sponsor company.

• f.

  In addition, the sponsor company will cover all expenses related with speakers.

• g.

  The Congress Organizing Committee will assign the room where the symposium is to be held.

• h.

  The sponsor company of a parallel symposium is entitled to announce the symposium in the official Congress documentation and to obtain the list of registered Congress attendees. Any other symposium advertising will be negotiated with the CCO.

In order to handle sometimes opposing conflicts of interests appropriately, and to avoid the possibility that the information is presented from a one-sided or incomplete point of view, these training activities must be governed by a series of regulations. In this respect, it is recommended that the program and contents are designed with the scientific collaboration of the various SEPAR areas, although this does not rule out the participation of experts from the industry who are involved in these areas of technological research and development. In this way, conflicts of interest can be handled appropriately and the possibility that the information could be presented from a one-sided or incomplete point of view can be avoided.

Certain ethical aspects, other than the purely organizational aspects mentioned above, must be taken into account:

• a.

  Industry sponsorship will be expressly stated on all documents associated with the session (programs, books or any other form of documentation supplied, regardless of technical support: mechanical, optical, electronic, etc.).

• b.

  The use of the SEPAR logotype or the Congress anagram will be avoided, except in those cases previously agreed and authorized.

• c.

  The teaching staff and speakers may be susceptible to possible influences. For this reason, they must provide specific information in their presentation to help the participants make a critical analysis of the content and the scope of the messages provided.

• d.

  The CCO must inform external suppliers (industry) that their training programs must have a balanced content with no bias in the information, either in favor or against any product or service.

• e.

  It is acceptable to pay reasonable fees to the moderators and speakers of these sessions, and to reimburse reasonable personal expenses, including travel and accommodation.

• f.

  Promotional material given to the participants will be related exclusively with the content of the session.

• g.

  Companies in the healthcare sector may pay Congress inscription fees for participants. In line with the transparency policy followed by SEPAR, any particular financing of attendees must be fully auditable.

• h.

  The RESPIRA Foundation (RESPIRA Spanish Lung Foundation, SEPAR) in all cases carries the maximum responsibility for the financial and economic organization of the Congress and the Joint Winter Area Meetings.

One significant and important way of using industry sponsorship is by way of specific grants for attending the annual SEPAR Congress. This support is essential for obtaining the participation of interested professionals. This type of grant, which includes the inscription, travel and accommodation during the annual Congress, has traditionally been aimed at pneumology and thoracic surgery residents, university-certified nurses and respiratory physiotherapists with at least 10 years of experience. Although this financial support originates in the industry, the logistical structure is the responsibility of the SEPAR and the CCO, working together with the corresponding PCO or, if applicable, external agencies considered appropriate for most efficiently managing this type of assistance.

In recent years, the sponsorship of grants for attending international congresses has been considered for residents in their final year of specialist training, who, as first authors of papers presented at the annual Congress, have deserved to be candidates for this type of assistance, due to their merits and according to the evaluation of an expert tribunal nominated for this purpose. This tribunal will be fully independent in their allocation of these grants, and the call for applications must always appear under the heading of SEPAR Grants, followed by the mention of the sponsorship of the corresponding company.

The members of the CCO and the local organizing committee may not receive financial payment from the industry for belonging to these committees.

These will be governed at all times by the provisions of the SEPAR Congress Regulations,25 notwithstanding the Spanish Code of Good Practice in the Promotion of Medicines and Interaction of the Pharmaceutical Industry with Healthcare Professionals (Código Español de Buenas Prácticas de Promoción de Medicamentos y de Interrelación de la Industria Farmacéutica con los Profesionales Sanitarios), 2010 edition,26–28 which establishes that agreements with institutions, foundations, scientific societies, organizations or associations made up of healthcare professionals for the provision of any type of service to a pharmaceutical company, will only be permitted if those services:

• -

  Are provided with the aim of collaborating in patient care, research, teaching/training or the organization of professional or scientific events;

• -

  Are formally documented, and the contracting company keeps a copy of those documents; and

• -

  They do not constitute an incentive for the recommendation, prescription, purchase, supply, sale or administration of certain medications.

A clear distinction will be made within the Congress between product promotion (trade show and the industry-sponsored symposia program) and medical training and information within the official program. The SEPAR Congress cannot accept any sponsorship that confers a right to influence the official congress program or the official information provided to the public. SEPAR will evaluate the information provided by the industry in its annual Congress program.

The Congress organization will avoid the promotion of specific products or services from a company, either in the name of the Congress or in the name of SEPAR itself, and will also avoid the inappropriate use of the image and logotypes of SEPAR, the RESPIRA Foundation and the Congress.

The sessions sponsored by the industry must appear clearly as a sponsored session in all Congress publications and in the corresponding conference room, with a full list of the sponsoring companies. Information published by the sponsors must not be confused with the official Congress publications. The existence of sponsorship in the official sessions of the Congress can be acceptable provided that this is expressly stated, the objective nature of the information provided is ensured, SEPAR has complete liberty in the choice of contents, speakers, moderators and documentation to be provided, and finally, strict compliance with these regulations is enforced.

The Congress organization, with the aim of ensuring a training program of the highest quality and objectivity, will obtain the certificates of accreditation in continuing medical training and will inform the attendees of the mechanisms for obtaining them.

The Congress organization must ensure that the financial expenses are reasonable. In all cases, both social events and the documents produced for the attendees must be reasonable and rational. Cultural and social aspects must not only come second to the scientific aspect, but they also must not impact on or interfere with the scientific program. In particular, the social program of the participants must not coincide with the timetable of the scientific timetable.

The Congress organization must weigh up the cost of each sponsorship option offered by industry against the advantages obtained by SEPAR and the participants and must push for the rational use of resources.

The Congress organization agrees that inscription fees, and travel and accommodation expenses of the speakers and moderators of the official program, whether they are members of SEPAR or not, may be financed by sponsors. This financial assistance will be paid via the PCO or the RESPIRA Foundation, but will never be settled directly between the sponsor company and the professional in question.

The financing of participants who are not qualified to prescribe or dispense medications, but who are considered healthcare professionals by Act 44/2003 of 21 November 2003 on Healthcare Professions, is permitted, provided the same criteria are applied as to healthcare professionals who are qualified to prescribe or dispense medications according to the provisions of the Spanish Code of Good Practices for the Promotion of Medicines. Similarly, Article 7 of Act 44/2003 recognizes that university-certified nursing staff and physiotherapists are healthcare professionals. Consequently, psychologists, physiotherapists and nursing staff are healthcare professionals as set down in this Act, and as such, invitations addressed to them are permitted, provided the provisions of the Code are respected.

Only sponsors offering products or services for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment or rehabilitation of patients with respiratory disease or for the professional practice of the participants will be accepted.

Sponsorship options must be in line with the formative and professional nature of the Congress, and those which could damage the Congress's good image must be avoided. In general, sponsored activities which create the impression of a lack of objectivity or which might imply an involvement of the participants with the sponsor will be avoided.

SEPAR will observe and enforce the regulations that are in effect regarding the advertising of medications and healthcare products at their Congress.

SEPAR must set up appropriate and effective mechanisms for achieving the effective compliance with this Code and the regulations derived from it, without damaging the interest and courtesy due to all members of SEPAR.