Court rejects pharmacies’ challenge to decree on opening hours

The administrative court on Thursday threw out a recourse filed by a number of pharmacies seeking to challenge a ministerial decree that regulates opening hours.

In its verdict, the court said that a ministerial decree constitutes a regulatory act, which is tantamount to an act of law, and thus the recourse as filed by the plaintiffs is null and void.

The plaintiffs – the pharmacies – had filed their recourse citing Article 146 of the constitution, which has to do with recourse against administrative acts. They argued that the ministerial decree regulating opening hours for pharmacies is an administrative act and as such can be challenged.

But the administrative court found otherwise, noting that ministerial decrees in fact have the weight of a legal act and thus do not qualify as administrative acts that might be challenged under Article 146.

However, the court also said that individual aspects of a ministerial act, if argued to be violating a person’s constitutional rights, could be heard by the supreme court.

The case concerns a legal challenge mounted by a group of pharmacies who wanted to decide on their own what hours they remain open, rather than be constrained by a ministerial decree that regulates the issue.

The seven ‘rogue’ pharmacies have been operating for longer hours than the decree allows. Effectively they argue that they are catering to consumers, and that if they want to stay open longer that should be up to them.

But their practices drew a strong reaction from the pharmacists association which insists on strict adherence to the decree. Threatening retaliation, the association had warned that, unless authorities resolved the matter soon, it would instruct its members not to open outside of regular working hours – night and public holidays –as of next month.