[JURIST] The European Court of Justice (ECJ) [official website] ruled [judgment] Wednesday that Germany’s price floor for prescription drugs violates free trade. Germany currently has a statutory scheme for medical insurance in which patients pay some out of pocket for prescriptions. However, foreign medical providers, such as Dutch pharmacies, found loopholes around the statutory scheme in order to pay additional costs for patients going around the price minimum. Germany, seeking to stop such practices, attempted to pass the price floor, but the EU, unconvinced that the price floor would accomplish such a goal, struck it down as unfair to fair trade in particular with foreign governments. Germany related that the government would review the holding and its implications.

The case was brought [DW report] by German non-profit Deutsche Parkinson Vereinigung [advocacy website, in German], which advocates for Parkinson’s Disease patients. They had struck a deal with the Dutch pharmacies, but a German group accused them of unfair competition. A lower court ruled against the organization, and their appeal was referred to the ECJ.