Deputies propose to determine new rules for pharmacies

The Bill on making alterations to Law of Ukraine "On medicinal agents" according to guarantee of economic competition and protection of rights of patients while retail trade of medicinal agents, r. №8591 (further the Bill) was registered in the Verkhovna Rada (the Parliament) of Ukraine on July 12, 2018.

The Bill proposes to change cardinally conditions of implementation of economic activity according to retail trade of medicinal agents.

As the authors of the Bill mark, the main aim of the document is to stop monopolization of pharmaceutical chains. A line of restrictions for owners of pharmacies is made in order to reach it.

Physical person-enterpreneur has a right to open not more than one pharmacy without detached structural units, while juridical person – not more than four pharmacies and pharmaceutical points, only inside one region.

A new pharmacy should be located not closer than 500 meters to the nearest one (except pharmacies and pharmaceutical points in medioprophylactic institutions).

Private entrepreneur would not have any rights to work in another pharmacy, engage to other types of economic activity (except production of preparations in conditions of a pharmacy and activity connected to turnover of narcotics, psychotropics and precursors).

New requirements to formation of a physical person-enterpreneur are made, namely:

• to have a document on higher education not lower than the second (masters) level on specialty "Pharmacy";
• to have a certificate of pharmacist-specialist, given by an institution of advanced studies or a certificate on conferment (confirmation) of appropriate qualification category.

Similar conditions for setting up and banning to engage to other activities are provided for participants of juridical person. Juridical person should have at least three participants in order to get a licence.

Juridical person would not have any rights to join unions with enterprises, which engage to retail and wholesale trade of medicinal agents. Its participants could be a physical person-enterpreneur, a commercial agent, a representative or a manager of another juridical person, who engage to the same activity.

The rules on quantity and education of participants would not be used in case if the only participant of a pharmacy is a public or a local government authority, who directly engages to economic activity according to retail trade of medicinal agents.

New requirements to individualization of economic entities are proposed. In particular, the place of retail trade of medicinal agents should guarantee possibility to define specific economic entity, who is the owner of a licence.

In case of passing the Bill, economic entities could bring their activity to conformity with specific rules during transition period: three months on individualization of pharmacies, one year on all the other cases.