New Zealand Acts

MEDICINES AMENDMENT ACT 2003 - SECT 4

4 New sections 5A and 5B inserted

The principal Act is amended by inserting, after section 5 , the following sections:

5A Meaning of holding an interest in a pharmacy

1 For the purposes of this Act, a person holds an interest in a pharmacy if the person has, or acquires, any direct or indirect estate or interest in the pharmacy (whether by way of shares in a company or by way of charge, loan, guarantee, indemnity, or otherwise) that affects the ownership, management, or control of the pharmacy practice carried on in the pharmacy.

2 For the purposes of subsection (1) , a person acquires a direct or indirect estate or interest in a pharmacy if the acquisition is made in the person's name, or in the name of a nominee, or the acquisition is made by the person by means of any device or arrangement.

3 Despite subsections (1) and (2) ,—

a) a person does not hold an interest in a pharmacy merely by—

i) making, in good faith and in the ordinary course of business to facilitate the carrying on of the pharmacy, any loan of money; or

ii) holding any security for repayment of that loan:

b) a person does not hold an interest in a pharmacy that is being carried on by an administrator of the estate of a deceased pharmacist, or by an administrator of the estate of a deceased operator of a pharmacy, merely by holding an interest in that estate.

4 Despite subsection (3) , any covenant, condition, or stipulation, expressed or implied in any contract or agreement restricting the operator of a pharmacy in the purchase of pharmaceutical requirements or other stock in trade is to be treated, for the purposes of this Act, as a device or arrangement affecting the management and control of the pharmacy practice carried on in that pharmacy.

5B Meaning of operating a pharmacy

For the purposes of this Act, a person operates a pharmacy if the person—

a) establishes, or carries on business in, a pharmacy; or

b) establishes, owns, or is responsible for the management or control of a hospital in which there is a pharmacy; or

c) establishes, or is responsible for the management or control of a pharmacy carried on, on a not for profit basis.

Note: 1970 No 143 s 2(2)-(4)