About us

The EHPA was founded in 1993 when it became clear that with the development of the European Union, the legislative framework under which herbal medicine was practised was likely to undergo radical change. The main professional herbal practitioner associations in the UK formed a UK national organisation called the British Herbal Practitioners Association (BHPA). In Europe, the BHPA affiliated with Irish and Danish herbal associations to form the European Herbal Practitioners Association (EHPA).

In late 1994, the basis of herbal practice in the UK was threatened by the sudden announcement by the Medicines Control Agency (now the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency) that existing European medicines legislation had swept away all those statutes in the Medicines Act 1968 that gave British herbal practitioners their legal right to obtain herbal medicines. The EHPA found itself thrown headlong into the campaign to rescue the right of UK practitioners to obtain herbal medicines without the need for full medicines licences. This highly successful campaign did much to create firm bonds between its member organisations.

Today our work focuses on the development of standards of training and education, accreditation of training institutions, strengthening the identity of the profession and working closely with key stakeholders on specific projects. For example, we are a key stakeholder, working closely with the Department of Health, in developing the path towards statutory regulation of herbal practitioners in the UK. We work with the MHRA on reviewing the standards of safety and quality of unlicensed herbal remedies and with the rest of the herbal sector on implementing the Directive of Traditional Herbal Medicinal Products.