EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 84/651

(2004/C 84 E/0734)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0672/04

by Proinsias De Rossa (PSE) to the Commission

(9 March 2004)

Subject: Recognition of pharmacists' professional qualifications

Article 2, paragraph 2 of Directive 85/433/EEC (1) allows Member States to prevent pharmacists who have obtained their qualifications in another Member State from working in pharmacies established for less than three years.

Has the Commission received complaints regarding the impact of this particular provision at Member State level and, if so, what has been its response to these complaints?

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(21 April 2004)

First of all, the Commission would like to explain that the provision to which the Honourable Member refers does not allow Member States to refuse pharmacists who have obtained their qualifications in another Member State the right to work in dispensing pharmacies which have been open for less than three years. This provision only makes it possible to prevent these pharmacists from being the owner (in Member states where ownership is reserved for pharmacists only), controller or managing pharmacist/technical supervisor (i.e. the person who assumes the ultimate responsibility for running the pharmacy) of such a pharmacy. As a result, the pharmacists in question have the right to work in a dispensing pharmacy which has been open for less than three years, even if they can only work there as employees.

The Commission has not received any complaints about this matter. It has, however, received mail on this topic, mainly from Parliamentary representatives. A petition concerning this derogation, which has since been closed, was also submitted to the Parliament's Committee on Petitions.

As the Commission stated in its replies and communications regarding the above-mentioned letters and petition, the purpose of the derogation laid down by the first subparagraph of Article 2(2) of Directive 85/433/EEC (2) is explained in the seventh recital of that Directive: to avoid problems which may result from the differences between Member States which restrict the number of new pharmacies that may be established and those which have no such restrictions.

The second subparagraph of Article 2(2) lays down that the derogation should be reviewed five years after the entry into force of the Directive. However, it emerged from this review which took place in 1993 that around half of the Member States made use, at that time, of the derogation. This is why no proposal was then put forward to remove it.

As is clear from the wording of the provision in question, this derogation is simply an option which the Member States may or may not use. Should a Member State therefore decide to amend its legislation by removing the restriction in question, and thus expanding the freedom of establishment for pharmacists, there would be no infringement of Directive 85/433/EEC.

In its proposal for a Directive on the recognition of professional qualifications of 7 March 2002 (3), the Commission did propose that this derogation be removed. However, at its first reading, the Parliament adopted amendments to reinstate this provision in the proposal. The Commission has rejected these amendments.

(1) OJ L 253, 24.9.1985, p. 37.

(2) Council Directive 85/433/EEC of 16 September 1985 concerning the mutual recognition of diplomas, certificates and other evidence of formal qualifications in pharmacy, including measures to facilitate the effective exercise of the right of establishment relating to certain activities in the field of pharmacy, OJ L 253, 24.9.1985.

(3) COM(2002) 119 final.