Abstract

The problem of pharmacy advertising is and extremely controversial subject, arousing numerous interpretational doubts and a lot of emotions, and also constantly present in the reality surrounding us, especially as of 1 January 2012, i.e. since a total ban on advertising pharmacies and their business was introduced in the Polish law. That ban means that as of that date any advertisement of pharmacies and their business has to be considered unlawful within the meaning of Art. 16.1.1 of the Unfair Competition Act of 16 April 1993, which may be counteracted with civil law measures, namely claims under Art. 18 of the Unfair Competition Act. This article discusses only selected issues relating to this problem, namely those at the interface of the regulation concerning pharmacy advertising and the regulations concerning medical products advertising (Art. 52 and fol. of the Pharmaceutical Act of 6 September 2001), including the possibility of an appropriate application of medical product advertising provisions to advertising pharmacies and their business. The reason for taking up deliberations concerning the relationship between the activities constituting medicinal product advertising to those constituting pharmacy advertising and at the same time the mutual relationship of the laws regulating those two undoubtedly separate areas have been primarily the activities of pharmacy operators which in the medicinal product advertising regulations (Art. 52 and fol. of the Pharmaceutical Act) were explicitly recognized as not constituting product advertising. This concerns making available and disseminating by pharmacies, in different forms, all types of medicinal product price lists or extracts therefrom with reference to inter alia Art. 52.3.4 of the Pharmaceutical Act. Another method to justify lawfulness of promotional activities conducted by pharmacies is to argue that as a matter of fact the activities questioned by the supervisory authorities do not constitute unlawful advertising of pharmacy operations but rather lawful medicinal product advertising which may be conducted not only by the marketing authorisation holder, but also any other entity commissioned by the marketing authorisation holder.