Morocco Cracks Down on Illegal Pharmaceutical Sales, Authorities Vow Strict Enforcement

The provisions of Law 17.04 on the Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Code, prohibiting the exposure for sale and the marketing of medicines and non-medicinal pharmaceutical products to the public, outside the legal framework, must be enforced, said the President of the Public Prosecutor’s Office Daki in a note addressed to the prosecutors and attorneys general of the King. Given the importance of the issue, it is urgent to resort to the judicial police to organize the control and monitoring of illicit sales and distributions of medicines, in collaboration with the regional services of the Ministry of Health or the central services of the Directorate of Medicines and Pharmacy.

Furthermore, these measures will make it possible to manage the cases pending before the courts as soon as possible and also to put in place the essential measures for a rapid withdrawal of the seized fraudulent products and materials so that they can be destroyed. In addition, judicial decisions stating inadequate sanctions for fraud will be reviewed. Thus, it is up to the prosecutors and attorneys general of the King to take responsibility for this problem and its consequences on public health.

It should be noted that under Article 55 of Law 17.04, only the pharmacy, as well as the medicine reserves within clinics and pharmaceutical establishments, can be called places of pharmacy practice. In the same vein, Article 19 specifies that the manufacture, import, export and wholesale sale of medicines must be carried out only by the industrial pharmaceutical establishments defined in the 2nd paragraph of Article 74 of the same law, which provides for criminal penalties in case of fraudulent sale of medicines and non-medicinal pharmaceutical products.