The Pharmaceutical Journal Vol 267 No 7159 p139-143
4 August 2001

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European e-pharmacy guidelines published

Guidelines for the provision of online pharmacy services have been produced by the Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union (PGEU). They are intended to be used by national authorities for the development of national codes of conduct for internet pharmacy.

The guidelines say that pharmacists should only publish understandable, reliable and up-to-date information based on scientific evidence. Such information should be referenced by source and date. The PGEU takes the view that information published on pharmacy websites should go no further than the expected competence of a pharmacist and should never claim to be a substitute for face-to-face consultation with a doctor or pharmacist. It expects any information to be accompanied by the name of a pharmacist who will accept professional responsibility for what is published.

The guidelines add that pharmacy websites should have a professional appearance, should be of high technical quality and must be regularly updated.

Security and confidentiality are also addressed. The guidelines say that privacy, security and confidentiality must be ensured with regard to any patient information transmitted to or from pharmacy websites.

More information can be found at the PGEU website www.pgeu.org.

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