Distance trading and e‍-‍trading in OTC medicines

Distance trading includes e‍-‍trading, mail order and home delivery to the customer.

E-trading is selling online or via an app, regardless of whether the customer collects the medicinal product at the outlet or whether it is sent via a collection point or directly to the customer's home.

You must state the geographical address of the premises where the non‍-‍prescription medicinal products are to be sold.

E-trading application

You must enter the visiting address of the location where the over‍-‍the‍-‍counter medicines are to be sold.

Non-prescription medicinal products online

The mandatory information on the website where you sell non-prescription medicinal products must be easy to see and legible for the consumer.

Mandatory information:

• Statement that the product is a medicinal product.
• Age limit of 18 at the time of purchase.
• Sign concerning the sales prohibition of medicinal products containing nicotine where peddling is suspected.
• The EU common symbol clearly visible on the home page and all other pages where medicinal products are offered for sale.
• Information on where the customer can obtain pharmaceutical advice on medicinal products, for example a reference to a pharmacy or Läkemedelsupplysningen, a Swedish information service from the Swedish Medical Products Agency.

Other:

• You may not publish any information about a medicinal product other than the information that can be found on the packaging, along with the price of the medicinal product.
• Before a medicinal product may be sold, the Swedish MPA approves the information about the product. As it is essential for the consumer to be able to use the medicinal product correctly, you may not publish any information that is not consistent with the approved product information.
• You may provide a link to www.fass.se so that the customer can read the approved information about the medicinal product.

Make it clear that the product is a medicinal product

It must be clearly stated which products are medicinal products on the website. If medicinal products are displayed with other product categories on the website, it should be clear to the consumer which products are medicinal products.

Checking that the customer is over 18 years old

The person selling medicinal products must check the customer's age, for example by a technical verification method such as e‍‍-‍‍identification. It is not sufficient for the customer to certify their age by, for example, stating their date of birth or ticking a box on the website.

Maintaining the quality of the medicinal product

It is important that the quality of the medicinal product does not deteriorate. The retailer is responsible for the medicinal product until the customer receives it, irrespective of whether the medicinal product is sold in a shop or online. The proper storage conditions of medicinal products must be maintained during delivery and during storage at a collection point.

Suitable premises

Medicinal products may not be sold from a residence as it is not regarded as suitable for the sale of medicinal products. One of the reasons for this is that checks and supervision cannot be carried out in a residence.

Please contact us if you have any questions about the premises where you plan to engage in distance trading.

EU symbol for online sale of medicinal products

Websites which sell medicinal products must have an EU common symbol clearly visible on the home page and all pages where medicinal products are offered for sale.

The purpose of the symbol is to enable the consumer to see easily whether the online trader in question has notified the e‍‍-‍‍trading to the Swedish MPA and thus has a lawful right to sell medicinal products online.