EC takes Germany to court on hospital supps

The European Commission says it has decided to take Germany to the European Court of Justice for provisions regulating the supply of hospitals with medicines by external pharmacies. For example, Germany requires pharmacies not only to supply medicines, but also to provide counselling, personally, at the hospital by the director of the supplying pharmacy.

Bundling "local" elements with other contractual elements leads to a "hidden" regional supply, says the Commission. By requiring that the same pharmacy market must fulfil all requirements at the same time, access for European Union pharmacies is still hampered.

In the eyes of the Commission, this constitutes an impediment to the free movement of goods, and it is convinced that an unbundled contract, ie, contracting different tasks to different contractors, does not impair the supply quality.