Appeals Court confirms judgement in favour of Chemimart Ltd

The Court of Appeal today upheld a judgment which had ordered the Superintendent of Public Health to issue a temporary licence authorising Reginald Fava to operate his pharmacy, Chemimart, from Republic Street after having been forced to close the Freedom Square outlet because of the City Gate project.

The Chamber of Pharmacists and the Pharmacy Owners Section of the Maltese Chamber of Small and Medium Businesses had appealed, claiming that Mr Fava's pharmacy would be less than 300 metres away from their pharmacies and that they would suffer damages.

The Court of Appeal ruled that the Chamber of Pharmacists did not have a legal interest to intervene in this case. The court however held that the owners of other Valetta pharmacies had an interest in this case as they claimed that they were suffering financial losses.

The law that established the legal distances between pharmacies had been enacted in the interests of the consumers and not in the interest of pharmacy owners. The law was aimed at enabling the public to have access to different pharmacies that were not sited next to each other but at different locations. Consequently, the appeal filed by the pharmacy owners was dismissed.