Online sale of medication

Sale of medicines on the Internet in France

Registration of the www.pharmacieconseils.com website under the number XXXXXXX with the Agence Régionale de Santé du Centre- 38 Rue Édouard Vaillant - 37042 Tours - Tel. 02.38.77.34.34 https://www.centre-val-de-loire.ars.sante.fr/

Since January 2, 2013, pharmacists established in France, who own a pharmacy, dispensary or manage a mutual or mine rescue pharmacy, can sell medicines over the Internet.

This practice is governed by the Public Health Code (articles L. 5125-33 et seq. and R. 5125-70 et seq. of the CSP). The good practices for dispensing medicinal products by electronic means are defined in the annex to the Order of 20 June 2013, published in the Official Journal of 23 June 2013, which comes into force on 12 July 2013.

What medicines can be sold on the Internet in France?

In France, the medicines that can be marketed online are those that are not subject to compulsory prescription, i.e. that can be obtained without a prescription. It is forbidden to sell medicines subject to compulsory prescription over the Internet, as the Conseil d'Etat recalled in its ruling of 17 July 2013.

Which pharmacists can sell drugs over the Internet?

Pharmacists established in France who have a dispensary pharmacy, pharmacists managing a mutualist pharmacy or a mine rescue pharmacy may have an e-commerce activity. This can only be carried out via the pharmacy's website. The cessation of the pharmacy's activities therefore leads to the closure of its Internet site. The pharmacist is responsible for the content of the Internet site he publishes and the conditions under which the activity of e-commerce in medicinal products is carried out. All these pharmacists are registered with the National Order of Pharmacists.

In addition, before opening an online drug store, these pharmacists must obtain authorization from the regional health agency (ARS) on which they depend. Authorized, they must inform the National Order of Pharmacists of the creation of the site.

The Ministry of Health has issued an order defining good practices for electronic dispensing. In the event of failure to comply with the rules applicable to e-commerce and these good dispensing practices, the Director General of the territorially competent ARS may, under the conditions specified by the texts, issue a formal notice and/or order the temporary closure of the site for a maximum period of five months, impose an administrative fine on the pharmacist and add a daily penalty to this fine. When at the end of the period of closure of the website the pharmacist has not complied, the Director General of the ARS may pronounce a new closure under the same conditions.

How to recognize an authorized French site?

Authorized French sites for the online sale of medicines contain at least the following information:

And if so:

In addition, the officinal site provides a hypertext link to the sites :

• of the National Order of Pharmacists,
• of the Ministry of Health,
• of the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM), on the Pharmacovigilance Formulary page, to allow pharmacovigilance reports.

Eventually, online sales sites will also have to display the logo common to all EU Member States on all their pages, which relates to the e-commerce of medicinal products. Implementing Regulation No 699/2014 on the common European logo for the sale of medicinal products online was published on 25 June in the Official Journal of the European Union. These provisions will apply without transposition on 1 July 2015.