CELEX: 62008CO0563
Language: en
Date: 2010-10-06 00:00:00
Title: Order of the Court (Seventh Chamber) of 6 October 2010.#Carlos Sáez Sánchez and Patricia Rueda Vargas v Junta de Andalucía, Manuel Jalón Morente and Others.#Reference for a preliminary ruling: Juzgado de lo Contencioso-Administrativo nº 2 de Granada - Spain.#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.#Case C-563/08.

Order of the Court (Seventh Chamber) of 6 October 2010 – Sáez Sánchez and Rueda Vargas v Junta de Andalucia and Others
      (Case C‑563/08)
      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
      Freedom of establishment – Restrictions – National legislation requiring an administrative licence to be obtained before new pharmacies may be opened in a particular
         area (Art. 49 TFEU) (see paras. 14-34, operative part.)
      
      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: 
      Article 49 TFEU must be interpreted as not precluding, in principle, national legislation, such as that at issue in the main
         proceedings, that 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 2 800 inhabitants; 
      –        a supplementary pharmacy may not be opened until that threshold has been crossed, that pharmacy being established for the
         fraction above 2 000 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 ‘2 800 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, which is a matter for the national court to ascertain.