Pharmacy Act, 1962

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Keeping of open shop for dispensing medical prescriptions and sale of poisons.

2.—(1) A person shall not keep open shop for the dispensing or compounding of medical prescriptions unless—

(a) the person is an authorised person and the shop and the dispensing and compounding of medical prescriptions therein are personally supervised by the person or by an authorised person, or

(b) the person is—

(i) the legal personal representative of a person who at the time of his death was lawfully keeping open shop for the dispensing or compounding of medical prescriptions, or

(ii) the trustee or committee of a person lawfully keeping open shop for the dispensing or compounding of medical prescriptions who is adjudged bankrupt or becomes an arranging debtor or becomes of unsound mind,

and the shop and the dispensing and compounding of medical prescriptions therein are personally supervised by an authorised person, or

(c) the person is a body corporate and the shop and the dispensing and compounding of medical prescriptions therein are personally supervised by a person who is a registered pharmaceutical chemist, a registered dispensing chemist and druggist or a licentiate of Apothecaries Hall and is employed by the body corporate in a whole-time capacity and is not acting in a similar capacity for any other body corporate or any authorised person or on his own behalf.

(2) A person shall not keep open shop for the sale of poisons unless—

(a) the person is either an authorised person or a registered druggist and the shop is personally managed by the person or an authorised person or a registered druggist, or

(b) the person is—

(i) the legal personal representative of a person who at the time of his death was lawfully keeping open shop for the sale of poisons, or

(ii) the trustee or committee of a person lawfully keeping open shop for the sale of poisons who is adjudged bankrupt or becomes an arranging debtor or becomes of unsound mind,

and the shop is personally managed by an authorised person or a registered druggist, or

(c) the person is a body corporate and the shop is personally managed by a person who is a registered pharmaceutical chemist, a registered dispensing chemist and druggist, a licentiate of Apothecaries Hall or a registered druggist and is employed by the body corporate in a whole-time capacity and is not acting in a similar capacity for any other body corporate, any authorised person or any registered druggist or on his own behalf.

(3) In this section “authorised person” means a registered pharmaceutical chemist, a registered dispensing chemist and druggist, a licentiate of Apothecaries Hall, or a registered medical practitioner who, before the commencement of this section, began a course of study to be gone through for the purpose of obtaining a qualifying diploma, within the meaning of the Medical Practitioners Acts, 1927 to 1961, or a corresponding qualification awarded outside the State and who has passed or passes an examination in pharmacy in order to qualify for the grant of the qualifying diploma or the award of the corresponding qualification outside the State.

(4) This section shall not apply in relation to the keeping of open shop for the sale of poisons by any person or class of persons specified in regulations made under section 14 of the Poisons Act, 1961 , where the keeping of open shop is in accordance with the provisions of the regulations.

(5) The Council shall, with the approval of the Minister, make such regulations as the Council thinks appropriate—

(a) for the purpose of giving full effect to and ensuring compliance with the provisions of this section, including provisions requiring—

(i) the keeping of records in relation to premises where open shop is kept for the dispensing or compounding of medical prescriptions or the sale of poisons and in relation to persons employed in such shops, and

(ii) the furnishing of statements and returns,

and

(b) in relation to the keeping of open shop for the dispensing or compounding of medical prescriptions or the sale of poisons by the persons referred to in paragraph (b) of subsection (1) and paragraph (b) of subsection (2) of this section, including regulations prohibiting the keeping of such open shop by those persons after the expiration of periods specified in the regulations (unless authorised by the Council to do so for periods specified by the Council) and regulations specifying either the same or different such periods for different purposes.

(6) A person who contravenes a provision of this section or of regulations under this section shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine not exceeding ten pounds for each day on which the offence is continued, or, at the discretion of the court, to imprisonment for any term not exceeding six months or to both such fine or fines and such imprisonment.

(7) Where an offence under this or the next following section is committed by a body corporate or by a person purporting to act on behalf of a body corporate or an unincorporated body of persons and is proved to have been so committed with the consent or approval of, or to have been facilitated by any default on the part of, any person being, in the case of a body corporate, a director thereof, or, in the case of an unincorporated body, a member of the committee of management or other controlling authority thereof, that person shall also be guilty of the offence.

(8) Any summons or other document required to be served for the purpose or in the course of proceedings under this or the next following section on a body corporate may be served by leaving it at, or sending it by registered post to, the body at any place in the State at which it conducts its business.