Case C-563/08: Order of the Court (Seventh Chamber) of 6 October 2010 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Juzgado de lo Contencioso-Administrativo No 2 de Granada-Spain) — Carlos Sáez Snchez, Patricia Rueda Vargas v Junta de Andalucía, Manual Jalón Morente and Others (First subparagraph of Article 104(3) of the Rules of Procedure — Article 49 TFEU — Freedom of establishment — Public health — Pharmacies — Proximity — Provision of medicinal products to the public — Operating licence — Territorial distribution of pharmacies — Establishment of limits based on population density — Minimum distance between pharmacies keywords)
Date: 2010-10-06
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: Spain, interpretation of the law, medicinal product, pharmaceutical legislation, pharmaceutical product, pharmacy, stock








C_2011030EN.01001002.xml










29.1.2011   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 30/10





Order of the Court (Seventh Chamber) of 6 October 2010 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Juzgado de lo Contencioso-Administrativo No 2 de Granada-Spain) — Carlos Sáez Snchez, Patricia Rueda Vargas v Junta de Andalucía, Manual Jalón Morente and Others
(Case C-563/08) (1)

(First subparagraph of Article 104(3) of the Rules of Procedure - Article 49 TFEU - Freedom of establishment - Public health - Pharmacies - Proximity - Provision of medicinal products to the public - Operating licence - Territorial distribution of pharmacies - Establishment of limits based on population density - Minimum distance between pharmacies keywords)
2011/C 30/16
Language of the case: Spanish

Referring court

Juzgado de lo Contencioso-Administrativo No 2 de Granada-Spain

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicants: Carlos Sáez Sánchez, Patricia Rueda Vargas

Defendants: Junta de Andalucía, Manual Jalón Morente and Others

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Juzgado de lo Contencioso-Administrativo No 2 de Granada — Interpretation of Article 43 EC — Legislation laying down the conditions for the opening of new pharmacies — Limits according to the number of inhabitants and the need to maintain a minimum distance between the pharmacies

Operative part of the order

Article 49 TFEU must be interpreted as not precluding, in principle, national legislation, such as that at issue in the cases before the referring court, which imposes restrictions on the issue of licences for the opening of new pharmacies, by providing that:






—


in each pharmaceutical area, a single pharmacy may be opened, as a general rule, per unit of 2800 inhabitants;










—


a supplementary pharmacy may not be opened until that threshold has been exceeded, that pharmacy being established for the fraction above 2000 inhabitants; and










—


each pharmacy must be a minimum distance away from existing pharmacies, that distance being, as a general rule, 250 metres.




Nevertheless, Article 49 TFEU precludes such national legislation in so far as the basic ‘2800 inhabitants’ and ‘250 metres’ rules prevent, in any geographical area which has special demographic features, the establishment of a sufficient number of pharmacies to ensure adequate pharmaceutical services, that being a matter for the national court to ascertain.


(1)  OJ C 69, 21.03.2009.