Austria has been formally threatened with legal action at the European Court of Justice because of its insistence that import permits must be secured for pharmaceutical products imported from other European Union member states.
The European Commission has issued Austria with a "reasoned opinion", claiming that a lighter regulatory touch needs to be applied to sales of packaged products for retail, such as penicillin, antibiotics, vaccines, hormones, vitamins or iodine.
Permits are issued for most purposes, namely for reprocessing for export, scientific studies, and as medicines for Austrians.
A commission statement said that the permit requirement "amounts to an unjustified barrier to the free movement of the pharmaceutical products in question." The commission wants Austria to require less restrictive measures, such as notifications being made by relevant scientific institutions, pharmaceutical companies using the medicines and doctors or veterinary surgeons who prescribe them.
Austria has two months to draw up an action plan saying how it intends to meet the commission's demands, or it may face a referral of the case to the European Court.