Pharmacies Continue to ban self-service

Higher Administrative Court: Pharmaceuticals and medicines requiring a pharmacy should continue to be passed on to customers by pharmacy staff only in the future.

(08.09.2010) The North Rhine-Westphalian Higher Administrative Court (OVG) in Münster affirmed in a ruling that pharmacy-only medicinal products may continue to be passed on to customers only by pharmacy staff in the future. Thus, the so-called self-service ban on OTC drugs was confirmed in the judgment of 19 August 2010. In the opinion of the judges the prohibition does not infringe against the Federal German constitution. This is not a contradiction despite the approval of the mail-order business with pharmaceuticals.

In a recent ruling, the Higher Administrative Court (OVG) in Münster has upheld the self-service ban on over-the-counter (OTC) medicines, ie medications requiring a pharmacy. Despite the approval of the mail order business with pharmaceuticals, the ban has not changed fundamentally. Such a prohibition does not contradict the German constitution and thus continue to have its substantive justification. In the justification, the judges argue that medicines are a special kind of goods that would need to be guaranteed at all levels. From manufacturing to application, numerous safety-relevant aspects must be considered. After all, pharmacists are, according to the federal pharmacist order (§ 1) committed to provide citizens with medicines and to inform them about Wikungsweisen and possible side effects of drugs and advise. Pharmacists play an important role in drug safety.

According to the verdict, the judges do not see in the self-service ban an inappropriate restriction of the free exercise of their profession guaranteed by the Constitution. Because such restrictions serve the common good, if they do not exceed the limits of the reasonable. In this case, this is true, as the self-service ban on OTC medicines serves the safety of customers and is well justified in the matter.

The court did not consider it justified that the approval of the mail-order trade in pharmaceuticals indicated a departure from the legislature's ban on self-service. For, according to the OVG, in a pharmaceutical mail-order business citizens usually buy medicines that they already know. Here, the advice is less important than in a pharmacy. When customers go to a pharmacy, they often buy medicines that are less known to the public. Accordingly, there must be a consultation by the pharmacist. (Sb)