European Shortages Monitoring Platform (ESMP)

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) uses the European Shortages Monitoring Platform (ESMP) to gather information about medicine availability, supply and demand in order to prevent, detect, and manage human medicine shortages in the European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA).

Updated on 16 December 2025:
- To move information on the interoperability of the ESMP platform, including the documentation related to the ESMP API for MAHs and NCAs, to a new page titled 'European Shortages Monitoring Platform (ESMP): Interoperability with national and pharmaceutical industry systems'
- To move information on guidance and training to a separate new page
- To update timeline on development and milestones of platform with ongoing ESMP expansion

EMA collects data from national competent authorities (NCAs) and marketing authorisation holders (MAHs) through the European Shortages Monitoring Platform (ESMP).

MAHs of centrally authorised products must use the platform to report medicine shortages regularly.

NCAs and MAHs must submit data on the availability, supply, and demand of medicines in situations that require close monitoring, such as crises or preparedness actions.

This is in line with EMA's extended mandate, laid out in Regulation (EU) 2022/123. For more information on the scope of reporting in particular instances, go to the 'Reporting via ESMP' section on this page.

To access the platform, go to European Shortages Monitoring Platform.

To get an overview of the platform, including its scope and objectives, consult the informational brief available below:

European Shortages Monitoring Platform (ESMP) Informational brief

For more information, see:

• Medicine shortages and availability issues

Also on this topic

• European Shortages Monitoring Platform (ESMP): Guidance, training materials and events
• European Shortages Monitoring Platform (ESMP): Interoperability with national and pharmaceutical industry systems

Reporting via ESMP

The platform enables EMA to monitor the supply, demand and availability of medicines in three scenarios:

• Under normal circumstances;
• When EMA's Executive Steering Group on Shortages and Safety of Medicinal Products (MSSG), also known as the Medicine Shortages Steering Group, requests this type of reporting. This is often referred to as MSSG-led preparedness;
• When preparing for and reacting to a crisis.

See the table below for more details on who reports what product type in which scenario:

• Normal circumstances:

  Routine reporting of shortages of medicinal products.

  Who needs to report:

  • Marketing authorisation holders

  When to report:

  • When MAHs become aware of a potential or actual shortage of one of their products. MAHs must update EMA with new relevant information through the platform as it becomes available

  Product type:

  • Centrally authorised products
• MSSG-led preparedness:

  Close monitoring of specific medicine(s) at the request of EMA's Medicine Shortages Steering Group (MSSG). The group creates a specific list of medicines for each action.

  Who needs to report:

  • Marketing authorisation holders
  • National competent authorities

  When to report:

  • When MSSG announces a preparedness action, it defines products in scope and the reporting frequency. EMA notifies MAHs with relevant products before reporting starts.

  Product type:

  • Centrally authorised products
  • Nationally authorised products
• Crisis:

  Reporting on supply, demand and availability of medicinal products during a public health emergency or major event.

  EMA publishes a list of critical medicines it monitors for each particular crisis.

  Who needs to report:

  • Marketing authorisation holders
  • National competent authorities

  When to report:

  • When the European Commission recognises a crisis. MSSG defines products in scope and the reporting frequency. EMA notifies MAHs with products in scope before reporting starts.

  Product type:

  • Centrally authorised products
  • Nationally authorised products

For guidance on reporting obligations in different scenarios, see the factsheets available in the following page:

• European Shortages Monitoring Platform (ESMP): Guidance, training materials and events

How to access platform

Marketing authorisation holders (MAHs) and national competent authorities (NCAs) can access the platform via the link below:

• European Shortages Monitoring Platform

MAHs and NCAs need to have an active EMA user account and an ESMP user role to sign in.

User guides for MAHs and NCAs are available with step-by-step instructions. Find them in European Shortages Monitoring Platform (ESMP): Guidance, training materials and events.

Select the expandable panel below to find trainings with information on how to set up ESMP user roles for MAHs and NCAs.

Trainings with information on how to set up ESMP user roles

• European Shortages Monitoring Platform (ESMP) training session on routine shortage reporting for marketing authorisation holders of centrally authorised products (CAPs) (20/11/2024)
• European Shortages Monitoring Platform (ESMP) training on crisis and MSSG-led preparedness reporting for marketing authorisation holders (MAHs) (19/02/2025)
• EU Network Training Centre (EU NTC) course for NCAs about the platform (login required)

Development and milestones of platform

EMA is developing the platform in line with the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe).

Adopting an Agile approach, the platform launched with basic features and EMA is gradually adding more over time.

EMA will keep stakeholders up-to-date on the platform's development with informative sessions, technical guidance and public demonstrations.

For more information on SAFe at EMA, see: 

• Network Portfolio: Agile transformation

The timeline below highlights the key ESMP-related developments and milestones, from the adoption of legislation requiring the platform to its continued expansion following the initial launch.

Development and milestones timeline

1. Adoption of Regulation (EU) 2022/123

   First quarter of 2022

2. Registration of industry single point of contact (i-SPOC) for medicine supply and availability

   Third quarter of 2022

   For more information on i-SPOCs, see Industry contact points for supply and availability of critical medicines.

3. IT developments and enhancements

   From fourth quarter of 2022 to the first quarter of 2025

4. Development of functionalities for marketing authorisation holders (MAH)

   From fourth quarter of 2022 to the first quarter of 2025

5. Development of functionalities for national competent authorities (NCA)

   From first quarter of 2024 to the first quarter of 2025

6. Interoperability with NCA and MAH systems

   From first quarter of 2024 to at least the first quarter of 2025

   From implementation plan agreement to deployment

7. Launch of the first functionalities for routine shortage reporting of CAPs for MAH

   28 November 2024

8. Launch of the first full set of functionalities for MAHs and NCAs

   29 January 2025

9. Continuous improvements and enhancements of the platform

   From 2025

10. Expansion of ESMP with additional functionalities

    Enabling the submission of voluntary solidarity mechanism requests and critical shortage reporting by NCAs in ESMP, as well as testing the vulnerability assessment methodology

    From third quarter of 2025 to second quarter of 2026

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Frequently asked questions

Marketing authorisation holders and national competent authorities can find answers to their most frequently asked questions in the document below:

Frequently asked questions on the European Shortages Monitoring Platform (ESMP)

Contacts

For general questions related to the platform, get in contact through our AskEMA portal:

• Send a question to the European Medicines Agency

To get technical support, please contact us via ServiceNow: 

• EMA Service Desk (ServiceNow)