In its decision of 27 February 2025, the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) answered a request for a preliminary ruling by the German Federal Court, ruling that Member States may authorize advertising measures to promote the purchase of unspecified prescription-only medicinal products in the form of price reductions or payments of a specified amount.

DocMorris, a Dutch mail-order pharmacy, had been running advertising campaigns promoting the purchase of prescription medicinal products in Germany since 2012. At the request of the Professional Association of Pharmacists of the North Rhine region (Apothekerkammer Nordrhein), the Regional Court of Cologne adopted interim measures to prohibit DocMorris’ advertising campaigns. Subsequently, most of these interim measures were annulled and therefore, DocMorris sought damages of approximately EUR 18.5 million from the Professional Association of Pharmacists before German courts.

The German Federal Court of Justice asked the ECJ whether German law, which permitted advertising measures entailing a price reduction or payments of an exact amount while prohibiting other advertising measures, was compatible with Directive 2001/83 on the Community code relating to medicinal products for human use.

The ECJ held, that the Directive applies only if the advertising is designed to promote the prescription, supply, sale or consumption of medicinal products. Therefore, the Directive does not apply to advertising that encourages the purchase of unspecified prescription-only medicinal products by offering price reductions, payments of an exact amount or a reward the amount of which was not known in advance. Such advertising measures would only concern the choice of the pharmacy and would not promote the consumption of such medicinal products.

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