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Pharmacy Act, 1974 (Act No. 53 of 1974)

Chapter II : Registration of Pharmacists and Bodies Corporate carrying on Business as a Pharmacist and Maintenance of Registers

22. Body corporate carrying on business as pharmacist

 

(1) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this Act, a body corporate (other than a corporation) may carry on business in the Republic as a pharmacist on the following conditions, but not otherwise—
(a) the body corporate shall have as the managing director of its business in the Republic a pharmacist who resides in the Republic and who is not, save as provided in subsection (4), engaged in the business of a pharmacist which does not belong to the said body corporate either alone or in partnership with another person;
(b) the council may cancel any registration referred to in section 14 (1) (e) and any certificate issued in respect thereof—
(i) if the managing director referred to in paragraph (a), ceases to comply with the requirements set out in that paragraph or ceases to be or to act as managing director of the pharmacy business of the body corporate in the Republic;
(ii) if after an inquiry held under section 39 the council finds that any director of the body corporate has contravened any provision of this Act;
(iii) if the body corporate in terms of paragraph (c) ceases to be entitled to carry on business as a pharmacist;
(iv) if after commencement of this Act the body corporate disposes of the whole or any part of its interest in the retail pharmacy business in respect of which it is registered under section 14 (1) (e) to any person other than a pharmacist or if after such commencement any person other than a pharmacist acquires any shareholding in the body corporate carrying on business as a retail pharmacist; or
(v) in the case of a body corporate referred to in subsection (6), if that body corporate no longer complies with the provisions of that subsection;
(c) a body corporate shall not carry on business as a pharmacist unless it holds a valid certificate, referred to in paragraph (b), of its registration and the registration of its managing director, and unless the person registered as managing director in fact manages the business of the body corporate and complies with the requirements set out in paragraph (a) in respect of such managing director: Provided that if—
(i) the said person ceases to be or to act as the managing director of or ceases as a fact to manage the business of the body corporate or is from any cause unable to act as such, or ceases to comply with the requirements set out in paragraph (a), or if the said certificate is cancelled, the body corporate may nevertheless carry on the business of a pharmacist during a period of thirty days as from such cessation or, as the case may be, from the commencement of such inability, or as from the notification to the body corporate of such cancellation;
(ii) any other director ceases to hold office, or a new director is appointed, the body corporate shall notify the registrar within thirty days, as from such cessation or appointment, of the name of the director who has ceased to hold office or of the name and address of the new director appointed to the body corporate;
(d) every pharmacy in which such body corporate carries on business shall be conducted under the continuous personal supervision of a pharmacist whose name shall be displayed conspicuously over the main entrance of such pharmacy;
(e) the body corporate, if it carries on business as a retail pharmacist shall either have been carrying on business as such immediately prior to the commencement of this Act or shall be a corporate body complying with the provisions of subsection (6).

 

(2) The managing director referred to in subsection (1) (a) shall be responsible to the council for any act performed by or on behalf of the body corporate in question (including any omission to perform an act required to be performed by or on behalf of the body corporate in question) which may involve disciplinary action by the council, unless he satisfies the council that the responsibility for such act rests upon a pharmacist other than himself employed by the body corporate.

 

(3) A contravention of or failure to comply with any provision of this section, or a refusal or failure to answer any enquiry made by or on behalf of the council as to the name of the managing director or any other director of, or of any other person employed by, a body corporate referred to in this section, shall be an offence and a person shall on conviction thereof be liable to a fine not exceeding five hundred rand.

 

(4) The managing director of a body corporate which is entitled to carry on the business of a pharmacist in terms of this section may, the provisions of subsection (1)(a) notwithstanding—
(a) be a director (other than a managing director) of any other body corporate which in terms of this section is entitled to carry on business as a pharmacist;
(b) with the prior written consent of the council perform any act referred to in section 29 (2) or any other act of a similar nature specially pertaining to the profession of a pharmacist, in a pharmacy not belonging to the body corporate of which he is a managing director.

 

(5) A body corporate desiring to be registered as a body corporate entitled to carry on business as a pharmacist shall in the prescribed manner, specifying the prescribed particulars, apply to the council for such registration.

 

(6)
(a) A body corporate which did not immediately prior to the commencement of this Act carry on business as a retail pharmacist, may carry on business as such if it is a private company having a share capital and has been incorporated and registered under the Companies Act, 1973 (Act 61 of 1973), as a private company.
(b) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in the Companies Act, 1973, the following provisions shall apply in respect of such company—
(i) Only natural persons who are pharmacists may hold the shares of such company or have any interest in such shares: Provided that in the event of any person dying or ceasing to qualify so to hold shares of the company, any shares of it held by him prior thereto, may continue to be held by him or his estate for a period of twelve months or such longer period as the council may determine.
(ii) No voting rights, except in respect of a resolution enabling the company to comply with the provisions of this section or to dispose of its undertaking or assets or any part thereof, shall attach to any share held in terms of the proviso to subparagraph (i), and the holder of any such share shall not receive any director's fees or remuneration.
(iii) Every holder of shares of such company, other than a person referred to in the proviso to subparagraph (i), shall be deemed to be a director of the company, and no other person who is not such a holder, except the managing director thereof, shall be a director of that company.
(iv) The name of the company shall consist solely of the name or names of any of the members or former members of the company or of persons who carried on, either for their own account or in partnership, any pharmacy business which may reasonably be regarded as a predecessor of the business of the company: Provided that the words 'and associates' or 'and company' may be included in the name of the company.