• To ensure the safety and efficacy of herbal medicines used in the health care systems of countries within the Region and elsewhere in the world.
• To provide research criteria for evaluating the safety and efficacy of herbal medicines and to propose a basis for the Member States to develop their own research guidelines for the study of herbal medicines.
• To facilitate the exchange of research experience and other information so that a body of reliable data for the validation of herbal medicines can be accumulated.