Authorisation to open a pharmacy

What it allows

To personally operate a pharmacy at the authorised location, and to hold and dispense medicines to the public there.

Who may apply

A pharmacist on the council’s register, with two years of practice since registration, who operates no other pharmacy.

An individual

At a glance

What it costs

• Filing feeGNF 750,000

  Payable when you file · Arrêté du Ministre chargé de la Santé fixant les tarifs des actes administratifs des directions nationales du ministère de la Santé

• Issue feeGNF 3,750,000

  Payable when it is issued · Arrêté du Ministre chargé de la Santé fixant les tarifs des actes administratifs des directions nationales du ministère de la Santé

• Annual operating chargeGNF 1,500,000

  Payable every year · Arrêté du Ministre chargé de la Santé fixant les tarifs des actes administratifs des directions nationales du ministère de la Santé

Total, filing and issueGNF 4,500,000

What to bring

Some of these depend on your answers; the list narrows as you fill the form in.

• Receipt for the filing fee

  To be attached only where the charge was settled before the file was sent. It must be legible and carry the number and the date given on the form.

  Must be less than 3 months old

  Arrêté du Ministre chargé de la Santé fixant les tarifs des actes administratifs des directions nationales du ministère de la Santé

• Certificate of registration with the pharmacists’ council

  Must be less than 6 months old

  Code de la santé publique, dispositions relatives à la pharmacie et au médicament

• Doctor of pharmacy degree

  Code de la santé publique, dispositions relatives à la pharmacie et au médicament

• Dimensioned plan of the premises

  Arrêté du Ministre chargé de la Santé fixant les normes de local et d’équipement des officines de pharmacie

• Title to occupy the premises

  Code de la santé publique, dispositions relatives à la pharmacie et au médicament

• Certificate of public or rural service

  Required if Years served in a public facility or a rural area is over 0

  Arrêté du Ministre chargé de la Santé fixant, par district sanitaire, le nombre d’officines pouvant être ouvertes et les critères de classement des demandes

Before you start

• Your pharmacists’ council registration number and the date you were registered
• The exact location of the premises — you may type coordinates, with no map
• The dimensioned plan of the premises and your title to occupy them
• The campaign dates: outside a campaign no application is admissible, and the close is to the second

How it is handled

1. Admissibility

   15 days

2. Verification of the scored answers

   30 days

3. Decision

   20 days

4. Signature

   15 days

5. Notification

   2 days

If the answer is no

The ranking, the points table and the list of allocated places are published when the campaign closes, before the decisions. An appeal may be made to the minister responsible for health within two months of notification, and then to the administrative court. Contesting a ranking means contesting the points table or the arithmetic: both are published.

The texts this rests on

• Loi L/97/021/AN du 19 juin 1997 portant Code de la santé publique
• Code de la santé publique, dispositions relatives à la pharmacie et au médicament
• Arrêté du Ministre chargé de la Santé fixant, par district sanitaire, le nombre d’officines pouvant être ouvertes et les critères de classement des demandes

Versions of this procedure

• Version 1 · 2026-01-01In force