Spain: In Pharmacy report, CNMC calls for removing entry barriers

Spain’s National Markets and Competition Commission has published a Study on the Retail Distribution of Medicine in Spain, where they analyze the various restrictions on competition that plague this market. The study concludes with a series of recommendations to improve efficiency in this sector.

The study finds that Spain’s current legislation imposes several restrictions on accessing, owning and maintaining a business in the drug retail market, causing a negative impact on competition and harming consumers.

The CNMC has, therefore, recommended the elimination of these restrictions on accessing the market: namely, the obligatory minimum distances between pharmacies and health providers; the elimination on restrictions on trading hours and advertising, and easing the requirements for opening a new pharmacy, among others.

Source: CNMC

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