Judgment of the Court of Justice in Case C-517/23

PRESS RELEASE No 23/25 Luxembourg, 27 February 2025 Judgment of the Court in Case C-517/23 | Apothekerkammer Nordrhein Member States may authorise advertising measures to promote the purchase of unspecified prescription-only medicinal products in the form of price reductions or payments of an exact amount Member States may also prohibit advertising measures to promote the purchase of that type of medicinal product where they offer vouchers for the subsequent purchase of non-prescription medicinal products and health and care products DocMorris, a Netherlands mail-order pharmacy, has since 2012 run various advertising campaigns for its customers in Germany promoting the purchase of prescription-only medicinal products. These took the form, in some cases, of price reductions and payments of an exact amount applied in relation to unspecified prescription-only medicinal products and, in other cases, of a reward of between €2.50 and €20 giving rise to a payment, the exact amount of which was not however known in advance. In addition, DocMorris offered, in order to promote the purchase of prescription-only medicinal products, vouchers for the subsequent purchase of other products, namely non-prescription medicinal products and health and care products. At the request of the Professional Association of Pharmacists of the North Rhine region, the Regional Court, Cologne, adopted interim measures prohibiting DocMorris’ advertising campaigns. However, as most...