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Exemption from payment transactions recorders to push part of pharmacy market into shadows – expert

KYIV. Sept 24 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Exemption from Software for Payment Transactions Recorders (SPTR) will push part of the pharmacy market into the shadows along with turnover of counterfeit medicines, Director of the Pharmacy Professional Association of Ukraine (APAU) Volodymyr Rudenko has said.

"Bills No. 3853/1 and No. 3853/2 have been introduced to the Rada, which want to neutralize everything that began to work in the state and create a precedent when a part of the market will go into the shadows. Our association does not support these bills, and we officially ask the lawmakers not support them," he said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday.

According to him, the obligation of pharmacies to use SPTR from January 1, 2020 had a positive effect on the market and reduced the turnover of counterfeits. "In January 2019, amendments were made to the legislation, which obliged all business entities to introduce retail trade of medicines using payment transactions recorders and issue fiscal receipts. These changes are very positive. The introduction of complete fiscalization will strengthen control over the activities of online pharmacies, simplify the work of fiscal authorities, the State Service of Ukraine on Medicines and Drugs Control and consumers will benefit from this," Rudenko said.

"According to the State Medicines Service, today the number of counterfeit medicines has decreased significantly. After all, only if there is a fiscal receipt, a patient who received low-quality medicines can prove that he bought them in a particular pharmacy," he said.

In addition, the head of the association said that before the introduction of SPTR laws, "the situation contributed to the sale of low-quality counterfeit medicines and the spread of "gray" imports."

"According to various sources, in Ukraine, up to 10% of the turnover of pharmaceuticals is counterfeit, 80% of them are sold via the Internet and through business entities without SPTR," Rudenko said.

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