Selling over-the-counter medicines
Do you sell or do you want to sell over-the-counter (OTC) medicines in the Netherlands? You must follow the rules in the Medicines Act and the Medicines Act Regulations.
What are over-the-counter (OTC) medicines?
You can buy OTC medicines without a prescription at a pharmacy, drugstore or supermarket. OTC medicines include painkillers such as paracetamol and ibuprofen, certain nose drops, cough syrups or diarrhoea inhibitors.
Which OTC medicines may you sell?
Which OTC medicines you may sell depends on your type of business. There are:
- OTC medicines that may be sold in pharmacies or at sales outlets, such as drugstores, where a qualified chemist (drogist) supervises the sale (Pharmacy and Drugstore only, PDO; Uitsluitend Apotheek en Drogist, UAD)
- OTC medicines that may be sold freely and, therefore, also in 'standard' shops, online shops and supermarkets (General Sales, GS; Algemene Verkoop, AV)
You can check the category of an OTC medicine in the Medicines Information Bank. The abbreviation UA, UAD or AV also appears on every package of an OTC medicine. This way, you can check if you are allowed to sell a particular OTC medicine.
Mandatory patient consultation
If you sell an OTC medicine, you may have to give your customer information or advice. Whether this is required depends on the category of the medicine.
Do you sell a PH medicine? Then you must give your customer information or guidance, even if they do not ask for it.
Do you sell a PDO medicine outside a pharmacy? Then you must tell your customer that a chemist (drogist) or assistant chemist (assistent-drogist) can give them information about the medicine. The customer can say they do not want this information. Only a chemist or assistant chemist may give this information.
Do you sell OTC medicines that can be sold freely (GS)? In that case, oral advice from a chemist or pharmacist is not necessary. Each consumer is responsible for using the medicine according to the instructions in the package leaflet.
Online sales of (OTC) medicines
Do you offer and sell OTC medicines or other medicines through a website to the general public from a location in the Netherlands? You must register with Online providers of medicines (CIBG, in Dutch).
If you meet the requirements (in Dutch), you will get the mandatory European logo. You must display the logo on all pages of your website that relate to the online sale of medicines. Your company will be listed in the list of online providers of medicines (CIBG, in Dutch).