Luxembourg, 18/03/2004 (Agence Europe) - The rules on competition contained within the Treaty do not stop groups of German sickness funds from setting ceilings for payments for certain medicines; in setting these limits, these groups are not acting as companies carrying out an economic activity, but are carrying out their job, imposed by the law, in managing the German social security system, said the Court in a press release.
This was the answer given by the Upper Chamber (11 judges) to preliminary questions asked of it by two jurisdictions, the Oberlandesgericht of Dusseldorf and the Bundesgerichtshof, on the interpretation of competition rules with regard to a trial in Germany between pharmaceutical companies and national federations of health insurers. The latter had changed the ceiling for the payments of certain medicines; The pharmaceutical companies- Ichthyol-Gesellschaft Cordes, Hermani & Co, Mundipharma, Gödecke and Intersan, the Institute for pharmaceutical and clinical research- challenged these decisions.
The Court believes that German statutory health insurance schemes fulfil an essentially social function, based on the principle of solidarity and with no lucrative ends. They are grouped within a kind of community of solidarity, allowing them to operate an equalisation of costs and risks between them. The funds are therefore not in competition with each other, or with private establishments. The freedom of these funds to set the rate of contributions and compete to attract members does not change this finding, the European judges concluded.