The Portuguese Competition Authority publishes a report in favour of liberalising the distribution of pharmaceutical products at retail level

The Economics Department of the Catholic University of Portugal carried out a Report for the Portuguese Autoridade da Concorrência (hereinafter, “the NCA”) concerning the liberalisation of the resale of pharmaceuticals at retail level. The Report sought to: – Identify barriers to entry arising from the current regulatory framework applying he sector. – Undertake a cost-benefit analysis of the anticompetitive features of the said regulation. – Propose modifications to the current regulatory framework. The Report compares the Portuguese regulatory framework of the activity to six other Member States of the European Community: Germany, Spain, Belgium, The Netherlands, United Kingdom and Ireland. The outcome of this preliminary “benchmarking exercise” is clear: the Portuguese