Guidelines for ATC classification and DDD assignment - WHOCC

B. Present Organisational responsibility for the ATC/DDD
system
1. WHO Collaborating Centre for Drug Statistics Methodology
In 1981, the WHO Regional Office for Europe recommended the ATC/DDD
system for international drug utilization studies. In connection with this, and to
make the methodology more widely used, there was a need for a central body
responsible for coordinating the use of the methodology. The WHO Collaborating
Centre for Drug Statistics Methodology was accordingly established in Oslo in
1982. The Centre was until 2001 situated at the Norwegian Medicinal Depot
(NMD). From January 2002 the Centre has been located at the Norwegian Institute
of Public Health. The Centre is funded by the Norwegian government.
In 1996, WHO recognized the need to develop use of the ATC/DDD system as an
international standard for drug utilization studies. The Centre was therefore linked
directly to WHO Headquarters in Geneva instead of the WHO Regional Office for
Europe in Copenhagen. This was seen as important to allow close integration of
international drug utilization studies and WHO’s initiatives to achieve universal
access to needed drugs and rational use of drugs particularly in developing
countries. Access to standardised and validated information on drug use is essential
to allow audit of patterns of drug utilization, identification of problems, educational
or other interventions and monitoring of the outcomes of the interventions.
An Agreement was drawn up by WHO with the Government of Norway in 1996
and revised in 2002. The latest redesignation of the Department of
Pharmacoepidemiology, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, as a WHO
Collaborating Centre for Drug Statistics Methodology, was in May 2008.
According to this Agreement all activities related to ATC/DDD classification have
to be conducted in accordance with policies determined by WHO.
The main activities of the Centre are development and maintenance of the
ATC/DDD system, including:
- To classify drugs according to the ATC system.
- To establish DDDs for drugs which have been assigned an ATC code.
- To review and revise as necessary the ATC classification system and DDDs.
- To stimulate and influence the practical use of the ATC system by cooperating
with researchers in the drug utilization field.
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