Reliance is an act whereby a regulatory authority (NRA) in one jurisdiction may take into account and give significant weight to – i.e. totally or partially rely upon – evaluations performed by another regulatory authority or other trusted institution in reaching its own decision.

The relying authority remains responsible and accountable for decisions taken, even when it relies on the decisions and information of others. According to a 2019 WHO survey on reliance, access to information, including unredacted assessment reports, promotes an understanding on what was reviewed, a rationale for decision making, and promotes confidence and trust.

IFPMA supports the concept of reliance and recognizes the facilitating role which assessment reports can play. Our members have found that there can be assumptions and misunderstandings on what type of information can be provided and the true scope of any redactions. There is no one size fits all definition of an unredacted assessment report due to differing laws and practices by NRAs globally. Within this paper, we outline our overall position.