Brussels, 02/06/2016 (Agence Europe) - German legislation laying down a fixed price for the sale of prescription medicine contravenes the principle of free circulation of goods because it restricts options for buying medicines by mail order from pharmacies in other member states, said European Court of Justice Advocate General Maciej Szpunar on Thursday 2 June.
Szpunar submitted his views to the European Court of Justice in case C-148/15 on the compatibility of the German prescription medicine price-setting system with Article 34 of the TFEU, which bans quantitative restrictions on imports. The German legislation bans price reductions in advertising and also applies in practice to prescription medicines bought by consumers by mail order from pharmacies registered in other member states.
The Advocate General says this is clearly an unjustified restriction on imports, rejecting all of Germany's arguments. The German system, he said, cannot be justified by the need to ensure a uniform supply of medicines across the country, because that is determined by the number of prescriptions issued by doctors. The need to ensure high-quality medicine is not a valid reason either, because there is no difference between medicines bought in Germany and those bought from other member states. He concluded that other, less restrictive, solutions exist, such as setting an upper limit on prices. (Original version in French by Jan Kordys)