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An Overview of the Rules Governing Over-The-Counter Medicines in 30 European Countries

Eduardo Daniel López Vila, Caroline Buts, Marc Jegers

DOI https://doi.org/10.21552/ehpl/2022/2/4



This article provides an overview of the current regulations of over-the-counter (OTC) medicines in 30 European countries regarding pricing systems, distribution channels, ownership of pharmacies, and dispensing restrictions. In 24 of the countries studied the prices of OTC medicines are freely set by the market participants. OTC medicines are available through online channels in 28 countries, and these medicines can be purchased outside pharmacies in 16 countries. The ownership is mainly private, as only in 4 countries the ownership of the license to operate a pharmacy is exclusively public. In addition, private ownership is limited to pharmacists in 8 countries, while in the other 18 ownership is open to non-pharmacists with restrictions or additional requirements. We find that the dispensing restrictions applicable to OTC medicines are similar in the 30 countries in pharmacy retail, as they rely on the expertise of the staff, the supervision of the operations by a pharmacist, and the accessibility of the medicines. A totally different picture is observable in non-pharmacy retail where additional rules are imposed to ensure the safety and well-being of the consumers. The most applied restrictions are related to strength, pharmaceutical form, package size, and location/accessibility of OTC medicines.

Eduardo Daniel López Vila is a PhD student and teaching assistant at the Department of Applied Economics of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Caroline Buts is a Professor at the Department of Applied Economics of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Marc Jegers is a Professor at the Department of Applied Economics of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. For correspondence: <eduardo.daniel.lopez.vila@vub.be>

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