Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

This relates to compliance regulations. Section 32 of the Bill provides for amendments to the Pharmacy Act 2007 to ensure compliance with the relevant provisions of this Bill. Section 7 of the Pharmacy Act is amended to ensure it will be a function of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland, PSI, to ensure that pharmacists operate generic substitution in accordance with the legislation. Section 18 of the Pharmacy Act is amended to allow for the making of regulations imposing duties on pharmacy owners and supervising pharmacists to supervise compliance by pharmacists with the generic substitution provisions. Section 35 of the Pharmacy Act is amended to include failure to comply with the generic substitution provisions as a ground for complaint against pharmacists.

A further amendment has been made to section 35(1) of the Pharmacy Act 2007 to provide that a failure by a pharmacist to comply with regulations made under section 18(1A) of the Pharmacy Act, as inserted by section 32(b) of this Bill, will constitute a ground for complaint. Section 36 of the Pharmacy Act, which refers to complaints about registered retail pharmacy businesses, has been also amended. The amendments at subsections d(i) and d(ii) are technical recommended by the Parliamentary Counsel. These are to ensure the terminology here is in line with standard usage. The substantive amendment at subsection (d)(iii) provides that failure by a pharmacy owner to comply with any of the duties referred to in section 18(1A) of the Pharmacy Act 2007 will constitute a ground for a complaint. This provision addresses concerns that section 32 as originally drafted places an unfair burden on pharmacists when compared to pharmacy owners. This amendment will allow pharmacy owners to be held accountable for breaches of duties to supervise compliance with the generic substitution provisions of this Bill.