Freedom of Establishment of Pharmacies in the Case Law of the Court of Justice of the European Union

Abstract

The objective of the European Union’s healthcare policy is to protect and improve the health of people at a European level. At the same time, actions taken by European bodies are merely complementary to national health policies. This means that the concepts of national health systems, including access to the pharmacy business, lie within the scope of powers of individual member states. Legal regulations governing the operation of pharmacies are not harmonised and, hence, national systems are not homogeneous. Currently, national pharmacy business models vary from one EU member state to another, depending on adopted legal solutions as well as political and economic context in which pharmacies operate. The problem which thus arises is whether the legal regulations that impose certain restrictions on the pharmacy business can be deemed violating the freedom of establishment in the European Union. An analysis of the Court of Justice’s jurisprudence leads to a position that the EU law does not stand in the way of national regulations that make the right to operate a pharmacy conditional on the possession of pharmaceutical education, if certain conditions are met. In the light of the Court’s line of jurisprudence, restrictions on the freedom of establishment should be applied without discrimination on grounds of nationality, and should be justified by overriding reasons of general interest, should be suitable to achieve legitimate objectives and should not go beyond what is necessary for the achievement of these objectives. Furthermore, the protection of public health and the duty to provide the population with a steady supply of medical products of proper quality seem to outweigh the freedom to conduct business under the treaties