Foundations · Portugal

Parapharmacy in Portugal

Portugal has, since the mid-2000s, allowed non-prescription medicines to be sold outside the pharmacy network in registered locais de venda de medicamentos não sujeitos a receita médica. The Portuguese parafarmácia exists alongside this regime, and the boundaries are supervised by INFARMED.

Legal definition

Portuguese law distinguishes between three categories of retail outlet that figure in the parapharmacy conversation. The first is the farmácia, regulated by Decreto-Lei n.º 307/2007 of 31 August. The second is the local de venda de medicamentos não sujeitos a receita médica ("place of sale of non-prescription medicines"), regulated by Decreto-Lei n.º 134/2005 of 16 August and registered with INFARMED. The third is the ordinary commercial outlet trading in cosmetics, supplements and devices, which is what is colloquially called a parafarmácia.

A single physical shop can combine functions: in practice, many Portuguese parafarmácias are registered as locais de venda de medicamentos não sujeitos a receita médica and therefore sell non-prescription medicines as well as cosmetics and supplements.

The 2005–2007 reforms

The Portuguese liberalisation of non-prescription medicine sales was effected by Decreto-Lei n.º 134/2005 of 16 August. The law allowed non-prescription medicines (medicamentos não sujeitos a receita médica, MNSRM) to be sold outside pharmacies, in establishments registered with INFARMED for that purpose, subject to conditions including the presence of a registered pharmacist or pharmacy technician during sale. A subsequent reform of pharmacy law by Decreto-Lei n.º 307/2007 of 31 August modernised the framework for the farmácia itself, including ownership rules.

The combined effect was to make Portugal one of the European jurisdictions in which non-prescription medicines circulate through both pharmacies and a parallel registered retail network. The reform has been the subject of an academic literature that examined its effects on prices, access and the pharmacy sector; this site does not cite specific numerical findings without source verification.

What may be sold

A Portuguese local de venda de MNSRM may sell:

• Non-prescription medicines (MNSRM) classified as such by INFARMED.
• Cosmetic products under Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009.
• Food supplements within the meaning of Directive 2002/46/EC and Portuguese implementing law.
• Medical devices bearing the CE mark under Regulation (EU) 2017/745.
• Foods for specific groups, including infant formula, subject to the relevant EU and Portuguese rules.
• Health-adjacent consumer products such as oral hygiene articles, breast-feeding accessories and similar items.

An ordinary parafarmácia that is not registered as a local de venda de MNSRM may sell all of the above except medicinal products.

What may not be sold

• Prescription medicines (medicamentos sujeitos a receita médica), which are reserved to farmácias.
• Compounded preparations (manipulados), which require an authorised farmácia.
• Certain medicines specifically excluded from the MNSRM sale-outside-pharmacy regime by INFARMED determination, for safety reasons.

Personnel and registration

A local de venda de MNSRM must register with INFARMED and is subject to inspection. During the sale of non-prescription medicines, the presence of a registered pharmacist or pharmacy technician is required. The premises must comply with rules on the storage of medicinal products, separation from other goods, and labelling. INFARMED maintains a public list of registered locais de venda de MNSRM and of farmácias.

A parafarmácia that does not sell medicines is, by contrast, an ordinary commercial establishment subject to commercial law and product-specific regulation but not to INFARMED registration as a medicines retailer. Some chains operate both formats.

Online sales

Online sale of non-prescription medicines in Portugal is permitted, subject to authorisation by INFARMED, and only to establishments that are themselves authorised to dispense medicines physically (farmácias or locais de venda de MNSRM). Authorised online sellers must display the EU common logo for legal online pharmacies. Online sale of cosmetics, food supplements and medical devices does not require a medicines-specific authorisation, although the relevant EU product rules apply.

Market context

The Portuguese model is the closest counterpart in Europe to the Italian Bersani regime: both allow non-prescription medicines to be sold in registered outlets outside the pharmacy network, with pharmacist or pharmacy-technician supervision. Each has been studied for its effects on competition and price; the broad finding in the empirical literature is that liberalisation tends to put downward pressure on the prices of the affected product categories, while leaving the prescription-medicines market unaffected. The pharmacy profession, represented by the Ordem dos Farmacêuticos and the Associação Nacional das Farmácias, has historically opposed further extension of the regime; consumer associations have at times favoured it.

Last reviewed: May 2026.