What is it?

The prices of medicines differ across the European Union (EU) and the states which are members of the EEA.

An authorised distributor from one of these countries can sell a medicine to an importing company in one of the other countries. Because of the price differences between these countries for medicines, even after having imported and repacked the medicines, the importer will be able to undercut the identical domestic version and sell the goods to pharmacies or wholesalers locally.



Parallel trade helps to increase the effectiveness of the European medicines market. It is a pro-competitive solution to keep costs of medicines in Europe in check.

As a result, the healthcare authorities and, depending on the various systems, the consumer, in the product's country of destination will pay less for the parallel imported medicine than for the domestic version being marketed by the manufacturer. It helps to restrain costs in a high-value market which is not usually price sensitive.

The price charged for a parallel-traded medicine is invariably less than that for the domestic version. If this were not the case, the entire justification for the existence of parallel trade would cease, as would the trade itself.

Parallel trade in medicines in Europe is strictly limited - in terms both of where the products are sourced and where they are finally sold - to within the EU and the states of the EEA.

As such it is irrelevant to talk of parallel imports - trade between the Member States of the EEA represents the free movement of goods in a single European market with no borders.