At A Glance: Legal Requirements For Advertising Prescription Medicinal Products Online In Latvia

• Published date: 17 September 2021
• Subject Matter: Consumer Protection, Media, Telecoms, IT, Entertainment, Consumer Law, Advertising, Marketing & Branding
• Law Firm: Vilgerts
• Author: Ms Diana Adamovica

Medicinal products advertisements can be addressed not only to the public, but also to specialists¹. Since the autumn of 2020, the extent of online pharmacy purchases has doubled. Experts believe there would have been even more orders if buyers knew that home delivery of prescription medicinal products² was indeed possible³. However, Latvian law allows the advertising of prescription medicinal products only to specialists.

If it can be established the consumer's choice is affected, the distribution of advertising of prescription drugs may constitute a violation of the Unfair Commercial Prohibition Practices law in Latvia⁴. The Latvian Health Inspectorate is also entitled to impose a fine of up to 10 % of its net turnover for EUR 100,000 for a violation of the rules⁵. Therefore, what should be kept in mind when advertising medicinal products to specialists so that the Latvian Health Inspectorate does not initiate an administrative case for unfair commercial practices?

1/What else should be taken into account, in addition to the regulatory requirements?

Section III of Cabinet Regulation No. 378 of 17 May 2011, "Procedures for the Advertising of Medicinal Products and Procedures by which a medicinal product manufacturer is entitled to hand over free samples of medicinal products to doctors" (the "Advertising Rules") broadly sets out the requirements for advertising intended for specialists and the procedures for the distribution of advertising of medicinal products.

Firstly, it must be borne in mind the substance of the advertisement, or the way in which the information is presented, is decisive. Advertising of a medicinal product must be clearly aimed at specialists, with a neutral view of the medicinal product in question and the affiliation of the medicinal product to a group of prescription medicinal products. Therefore, the advertiser must carefully consider how the information is presented.

An advertisement should not contain promotional elements of a particular medicinal product. For example, if an advertisement for a medicinal product intended for specialists contains personal and emotional stories of patients, in which occurs tendency to refer only to the good properties of the medicinal product, the Health Inspectorate questioning the true addressee of the advertisement would be justified. The Latvian Regional Administrative Court also acknowledges that in a case like this, there would be the reason to believe that the true addressee of the...