Russia Pharmaceuticals Sector Update - July 2020

Distance sales of pharmaceuticals commence

On 17 March 2020 the Russian President signed an Order that allowed the distance sale of over-the-counter medicines. However, at that time, such sales were conditioned on federal legislation being adopted and the Russian Government outlining further mechanisms for such sales.

On 1 April 2020 a federal law allowing such distance sales was finally enacted. Notably, the law also allows the distance sale of prescription-based medicines, however these were included in the law with a restriction to be applied until 31 December 2020 only and in relation to COVID-19-related medicines only.

Finally, in furtherance to the federal law, on 16 May 2020 the Russian Government adopted rules on the distance sale of medicines. Under the rules, such distance sale can only be performed by pharmacies that hold a valid licence issued no later than a year before the start of such sales, have a website or mobile app, have their own or an outsourced courier delivery service and meet a few other requirements.

According to press reports, as of today, quite a lot of pharmacies across Russia have already commenced the distance sale of medicines.

The Russian government may become entitled to suspend the effective date of the statutory requirement to place RFID-marks on certain drugs

On 23 June 2020, the State Duma of the Russian Federation adopted draft law No. 902457-7 "On Amending Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation on the Provision of Citizens with Drugs, Medical Devices and Specialised Health Food Products" on the second reading.

According to the draft law, the Russian Government will be able to introduce a special treatment for certain drugs produced between 01 July and 01 October 2020, so that they will be allowed for import into the Russian Federation without RFID-marks until 01 January 2021.

It is expected that the draft law will be adopted in the near future. As explained by the press service of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, permits for the import of drugs without RFID-marks will only be issued in exceptional cases and manufacturers will have to justify the reasons for non-compliance with mandatory labelling requirements.