PHARMACIES : ECJ: MEMBER STATES CAN RESTRICT OWNERSHIP OF PHARMACIES.

• Position: EU Court of Justice

According to a 19 May ruling by the EU Court of Justice (ECJ), the owning and running of pharmacies "can be restricted to pharmacists alone". Restrictions to this effect contained in Italian and German legislation are therefore justified insomuch as they aim to ensure that the provision of medicinal products to the public does not create risks to public health and that the medicines are "reliable and of good quality". It falls within the competence of member states to determine the level of protection of public health, the ECJ said, adding that freedom of establishment and the free movement of capital do not preclude national legislation in this respect.

The verdict brought two similar cases to a legal close(1).

The European Commission had brought Italy to court, arguing that the country's rules stipulating that only pharmacists can own and run a pharmacyaare in contradiction with the EU's rules on freedom of establishment and the free movement of capital. Following the announcement of the ECJ's judgement, the Commission declined to comment, saying only that it first wants to "study the verdict in detail".

The joined cases arose after theaMinistry of Justice, Health and Social Issues of Saarland in Germany authorised DocMorris NV, a Dutch company, to open a branch pharmacy inaSaarbrucken, in July 2006. Several pharmacists and their professional associations challenged this decision before the court in Saarland. They argued that the authorisation was "not consistent with German legislation," which restricts the right to own and operate a pharmacy exclusively to pharmacists.

The court in Saarland transferred the case to the ECJ to determine whether the EC Treaty provisions on the freedom of establishment must be...