A German court Thursday temporarily stopped the sale of medication via the Internet by a Dutch company in a landmark case for electronic commerce.
The court in Frankfurt said that the company, Doc Morris, violated German pharmaceuticals and public health laws and slapped it with a temporary injunction.
The ruling will go into effect as soon as the Netherlands agrees to carry out the decision.
The court said that because the firm was officially subject only to Dutch law, there was the danger that medication legal there but banned in Germany could be sold here.
In addition, the court, which upheld complaints by the German Pharmacists Association and a German pharmaceuticals company, said that the sale of medications by mail-order was outlawed in the country.
Doc Morris, which said two other German courts had already struck down similar temporary injunctions, said it would fight the injunction in court.
The Dutch company offers about 1,100 over-the-counter and prescription medications on the Internet at discount prices to customers in a handful of European countries, including Germany, with delivery within 24 hours.
For medications that require them, Doc Morris asked to receive prescriptions before delivering products.
The court noted that that Germany "may not be able to uphold its ban on mail-order sales of medication forever" but said for now, Internet distribution of pharmaceuticals were illegal in Germany.
Pharmacists association head Hermann Stefan Keller welcomed the decision.
"The true winners are all the patients in Germany," he said, adding that it served to protect consumers and medication safety and was a necessary limit on the business of pharmacists that was accepted by the majority of people in industry.
Doc Morris marketing director Jens Apermann said the company would fight the verdict.
"We and our 10,000 customers throughout Europe will not allow ourselves to be labeled illegal by this decision," Apermann said – FRANKFURT (AFP)
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