National News

Portugal

Double Taxation in Community Pharmacy

Community pharmacies are, without any doubt, the first point of contact of a patient/user with the Portuguese Health System It is not only the place where the Portuguese turn the most to for advice, but also the place where patients turn the most to find their therapeutic means.

Thus, it is to be expected that these health establishments are highly controlled and regulated from the point of view of controlling the quality of their services, but also from an economic and legal point of view. With the entry into force of Ordinance no. 150/2016, on 26 May, community pharmacies became subject to the payment of fees for the services provided by the Health Regulatory Entity ("HRE"), as well as to the payment of a regulatory contribution.

Unsurprisingly, these fees applied to pharmacies providing pharmaceutical services proved to be a difficulty for them, given that they were already subject to taxation by Infarmed (National Authority for Medicinal and Health Products). In order to contrast this situation, the Portuguese Government approved Order no 49/2023, of 15 February that would lead to the exemption of fees applied by HRE, which for community pharmacies came to be a very beneficial measure, since they can exercise their pharmaceutical services without having to pay any fee to HRE. In this way, community pharmacies now have a new future ahead of them, in which rigour and excellence may prevail, without additional taxes being applied.

David Ramos, Vice President for Political Affairs

Bernardo Pedroso ls@apef.pt