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Medicines Act 1981

Provisions relating to licences - Restrictions on persons allowed to operate pharmacies

55D: Restriction on companies operating pharmacies

You could also call this:

"Rules for companies that want to own a pharmacy in New Zealand"

Illustration for Medicines Act 1981

You can't get a licence to operate a pharmacy if you are a company, unless certain conditions are met. A company can get a licence if more than 50% of the company is owned by a pharmacist and the pharmacist has control of the company. You can also get a licence if you meet other conditions, such as being exempt under an Order in Council made under section 105C, or if the pharmacy is in a hospital owned by the company. If a company is already operating a pharmacy when this law starts, it can keep operating, but this rule stops applying if there is a big change in the company's ownership. For the purposes of this law, a pharmacist includes someone who is looking after a deceased pharmacist's estate. You are considered a pharmacist for a certain period, such as one year after the pharmacist's death, or for a longer period if the licensing authority allows it.

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This page was last updated on

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM56019.

Topics:
Health and wellbeing > Healthcare servicesBusiness > Industry rules
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55C: Mandatory condition of licence to operate pharmacy, or

"Pharmacies must follow professional standards"

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55E: Restriction on individuals operating or holding majority interest in pharmacies, or

"Only pharmacists can own or run most pharmacies"

Part 3Provisions relating to licences
Restrictions on persons allowed to operate pharmacies

55DRestriction on companies operating pharmacies

  1. No company may be granted a licence to operate a pharmacy unless any of paragraphs (a) to (e) of subsection (2) apply.

  2. A company may be granted a licence to operate a pharmacy if—

  3. at all times more than 50% of the share capital of the company is owned by a pharmacist or pharmacists, and effective control of the company is vested in that pharmacist or those pharmacists; or
    1. it is exempt from the requirements set out in paragraph (a) under an Order in Council made under section 105C or complies with any modification of those requirements authorised by an Order in Council made under that section; or
      1. it is deemed to have been issued with a licence under section 114A(2); or
        1. the pharmacy is in a hospital owned or operated by the company; or
          1. it is a company that, at the commencement of this section, was lawfully operating a pharmacy.

            1. Subsection (2)(e) ceases to apply to a company if there is or are a change or changes in the ownership of shares representing 25% of the share capital of the company after the commencement of this section.

            2. For the purposes of subsection (2), pharmacist includes an administrator of the estate of a deceased pharmacist, and an assignee within the meaning of the Insolvency Act 2006 of the estate of a pharmacist, until—

            3. the expiry of the period of 1 year after the date of the death of the deceased pharmacist, or the date on which the pharmacist was adjudicated bankrupt, has expired; or
              1. subject to any conditions that the licensing authority proposes, the expiry of any extended period or periods permitted by the licensing authority.

                Compare
                • 1970 No 143 s 42
                Notes
                • Section 55D: inserted, on , by section 17 of the Medicines Amendment Act 2003 (2003 No 50).
                • Section 55D(4): amended, on , by section 445 of the Insolvency Act 2006 (2006 No 55).