Joined Cases C‑159/12 to C‑161/12

Alessandra Venturini

v

ASL Varese and Others,

Maria Rosa Gramegna

v

ASL Lodi and Others

and

Anna Muzzio

v

ASL Pavia and Others

(Requests for a preliminary ruling from the Tribunale amministrativo regionale per la Lombardia)

(Freedom of establishment — Article 49 TFEU — Public health — National legislation prohibiting para-pharmacies from selling prescription-only medicinal products the cost of which is borne by the patient)

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber), 5 December 2013

1.        Questions referred for a preliminary ruling — Jurisdiction of the Court — Question raised regarding a dispute within a single Member State — Inclusion in view of the potential application of EU law to that dispute because of a prohibition on discrimination raised by national law (Art. 267 TFEU)

2.        Freedom of establishment — Restrictions — National legislation prohibiting para-pharmacies from selling prescription-only medicinal products the cost of which is borne wholly by the patient — Not permissible — Justification — Protection of public health — Conditions

(Art. 49 TFEU)

1.        A response to a question referred for a preliminary ruling could be useful for the referring court, even in a purely internal situation where all the factors are confined within a single Member State, in particular if its national law were to require it to grant to a national of that State the same rights as those which a national of another Member State would derive from EU law in the same situation.

(see para. 28)

2.        Article 49 TFEU must be interpreted as not precluding national legislation which does not allow a pharmacist, who is qualified and registered with the professional body but does not own a pharmacy in the grid, also to offer for retail sale, in the para-pharmacy owned by that pharmacist, prescription-only medicinal products the cost of which is borne not by the national health service but wholly by the purchaser.

In fact, such national legislation which reserves the sale of those medicinal products exclusively to pharmacies, the establishment of which is subject to planning rules, is appropriate to guarantee attainment of the objective of ensuring that the supply of medicinal products to the public is reliable and of good quality and of ensuring the protection of public health. Such legislation, in so far as it substantially reduces the risk linked to a possible shortage of pharmacies does not appear to go beyond what is necessary in order to attain the objective of ensuring that the supply of medicinal products to the public is reliable and of good quality.

(see paras 55, 63, 66, operative part)